Ben Sulayem makes Brad Pitt point to dismiss Andretti fear

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has no concerns of a potential 11th team garage posing safety risks for Formula 1, pointing to the Brad Pitt film in development.

Andretti Formula Racing LLC is currently entering the final phase before it joins the F1 grid, which includes "commercial talks" with Formula One Management (FOM) as the Commerical Rights Holder (CRH) after its bid was accepted by the FIA on technical and sporting grounds.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has raised concerns that adding an 11th garage could create a "safety concern" for F1, citing the logistics of adding another garage at circuits like Monaco and Zandvoort where space is at a premium.

Currently, the garage space is made up of FIA Personnel, FOM, and the ten teams, leaving little space for any additional entities.

F1 has managed to cope recently at certain circuits including Silverstone and the Hungaroring, where filming for the upcoming movie starring Brad Pitt has been taking place in the fictional 'APX GP' team garage.

Ben Sulayem: The contracts are very clear

When asked by RacingNews365 about the situation, Ben Sulayem told media: “We can afford having another Hollywood team.

“The contracts are very clear. We are running with 11 teams [now with filming for the film staring] Hollywood [star Pitt].

"When they are over [with filming] at that time, there will be space [for an 11th] team.

“Most of the contracts are very, very clear (with the Concorde Agreement allowing 13 teams or 26 cars on the grid) to have space for [more teams]. It is written.

Ben Sulayem highlighted that it is part of F1's circuit contracts that they must accommodate at least 12 teams with their garage space.

“It's the responsibility of the promoter and the circuit; it's not our responsibility. We don't interfere but that's the rules," he explained.

"The rules are not only implemented by us, the rules are implemented everywhere, by all parties."