“Five years ago you could get an F1 team for nothing! 11th team? Dip in economy”

Andretti Autosport, the US-based motorsport juggernauts, want to join the F1 grid as an extra team and the FIA have been receptive towards it.

But F1 teams have hit back - Red Bull’s Christian Horner’s asked “who will pay for it?” - and now Haas team principal Steiner has railed against it.

He said to Sky: "What upside is it bringing? There is just risk, no benefit.

"Five years ago, you could get teams for nothing, you could pick it up. Nobody wanted them and they went out of business.

"Now, all of a sudden, everybody wants a team. But it's a lot of people that want to come in and the 10 teams which are here are all financially stable, all well set up. 

“It's a very good environment at the moment, no one is struggling.

"If you put an 11th team in and we get a little bit of a dip in the economy or something all of a sudden maybe people are maybe struggling to survive.

"Why take that risk if there is no upside? It's not up to me to decide."

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s support of an 11th team on the F1 grid is one of the reasons he has come under intense scrutiny.

• 'Ben Sulayem can regroup and take the heat out of a fractious situation'