Possible new F1 team were kind of expecting entry price of $200 million

The Panthera team had planned to enter Formula 1 in the 2022 season. Last week it was announced that new teams will have to pay as much as 200 million dollars to be able to race in the sport in F1. According to Benjamin Durand, who wants to go into F1 with Panthera, this is a major setback.

"We were kind of expecting it. It’s for us something that was in discussion for quite some time", Durand said in an interview with RaceFans.net. Durand himself had expected that the cost to enter F1 would be between 80 and 120 million dollars.

"Obviously it’s not good news, but it’s not news per se, we were kind of expecting it,” he said. “It makes those things obviously more difficult. It’s easier to find 100 million than to find 300", says Durand.

Durand explains that he can understand the entry price because existing teams are protected in this way. "It’s clearly done to protect the existing teams, which we understand, and it’s a good thing. When we talk to potential backers it shows that the series takes good care of the teams once they are inside, which is not always the case in some other series. So it’s a good thing", he concludes.