More details have been confirmed on a Formula 1 team that could be a contender to join the grid from 2026, as revealed by RacingNews365.com . The 'Formula Equal' project by Craig Pollock will have backing from a "Gulf area country", with speculation that it could be Saudi Arabia. RacingNews365.com exclusively approached Prince Khalid, President of the Saudi Motorsport Federation, who stopped short of confirming their involvement in the project: "It is too early to go into these kind of details." Speaking in an interview with CNN , Pollock admitted: "We are in intense discussions with I would just say a Gulf area country. “I’m not really in the position to talk about that and be fully open about it at this present time – that will come out in the very near future. And I just hope it's going to work because it does take a lot of money.” Pollock plans for it to be the "first Formula 1 team that is truly outside of Europe." He added: "This has to be built from the bottom up in a Gulf state and this is what we are aiming to do. This is a long-term project – this is not short-term." (Article continues below photo)
'Formula Equal' will be 50% men and 50% women
Pollock, who brought Jacques Villeneuve into CART and F1 before founding the British American Racing team, has spent the last four years on the project. As the name 'Formula Equal' implies, it plans to be the first team that is 50% men and 50% women across the drivers, engineers, and boardroom. "Our ambition to deliver and build opportunities and pathways for women to get to the very top level inside motorsports," said Pollock. "The concept and the idea was to try and build a Formula 1 team, 50% male, 50% female, which is extremely hard to do if you have an existing Formula 1 team; it's a lot easier with a clean sheet of paper." The team is currently a "turnkey operation", according to Pollock, who says they are focused on delivering on opportunities for women in motorsport. "Obviously that is linked to equality, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. This is not a question of me going to them [the Gulf state]," he said. "In reality, it's them having come to us because we have a turnkey operation with the business plan, with all the costings, with everything ready to go."
Most read
