Hitech Grand Prix has confirmed it is seeking a place on the Formula 1 grid after gaining backing from one of the richest people in Kazakhstan.
The Silverstone-based team, which was founded in 2015 by Oliver Oakes, already competes in Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula 4. Its parent company Hitech Global Holdings announced today it has sold a 25% stake to Kazakhstani businessman Vladimir Kim.The 62-year-old is the president of mining firm Kaz Minerals, which he acquired two years ago with another businessman. His wealth was estimated at $5 billion (£3.93bn) last year.
Kim’s other business interests include Bank RBK JSC and business aviation firm Comlux Group. He said motorsport has also “been a long-standing personal interest for me, and I am delighted to be entering into a partnership with an organisation that has enjoyed success in so many categories and has such ambitions for its future.”
Oakes said the two companies “found many natural synergies and I know that his support will be invaluable as we seek to build on Hitech’s success and work towards achieving its broader ambitions over the years to come.”
Hitech has also been seeking a replacement for the backing which previously came from fertiliser producer Uralkali, before the imposition of sanctions on Russian businesses in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Questions over the connections between Hitech and Uralkali – which is run by Dmitry Mazepin, father of ex-Hitech and F1 racer Nikita Mazepin – were raised in Britain’s House of Commons last November.
The team was rumoured to be among those which had submitted an application to join the Formula 1 grid when the FIA invited submissions in February this year. Hitech publicly confirmed for the first time today it is among the applicants.
Hitech runs Red Bull-backed duo Isack Hadjar and Jak Crawford in Formula 2. Its trio of drivers in Formula 3 are all associated with different F1 teams: Red Bull’s Sebastian Montoya, Alpine’s Gabriele Mini and Williams’ Luke Browning.
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sato113 (@sato113)
26th June 2023, 12:58
is the maximum grid size still 24?
SHR Modding
26th June 2023, 14:05
26 I think
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th June 2023, 14:09
That’s right, the rules state the limit is 26, two per team.
Fred Fedurch
26th June 2023, 23:33
Good luck getting 26 cars into the paddock at Interlagos. There’s 23 spots now. The 1st at the entrance is next to a raised patio over a 20 foot embankment and road. the 23rd at the exit end is literally feet from the first left hand corner of the pit lane exit. THERE IS NO ROOM. PERIOD. Not safely, anyway. The pit and the road behind it are on Google Street View.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-23.7031787,-46.6999625,2a,75y,136.78h,71.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snN_1W5grweS80phdsvPpZA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
https://www.google.com/maps/@-23.7060236,-46.6991421,2a,75y,90.52h,77.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sN6hYfn62rcGcEzEP0mE1MQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
26th June 2023, 14:26
As Simon said below, they are allowing a maximum of 12 teams, who have to run two cars each. So yes, that makes 24.
However, maximum grid size is something different, as SHR and Keith said that is at 26. This means that there could potentially be more teams and more cars in F1, but only the top 26 in qualifying would be on the grid of the race.
MichaelN
26th June 2023, 15:04
As per the Sporting Regulations article 8.6 ‘No more than twenty-six (26) cars will be admitted to the Championship, two (2) being entered by each Competitor‘. According to reporting, the FIA has colluded with the current teams to limit this further. But their own rules say 26.
Venom
26th June 2023, 13:33
26
S
26th June 2023, 14:07
It’s 26. It has been for decades.
Simon
26th June 2023, 14:08
Seems so, according to this
“Formula 1 currently has 10 teams and is limited to a maximum of 12 up to and including the 2025 season by the current Concorde Agreement”
Source: https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/30778/12865624/the-future-of-f1-deadline-approaches-for-new-team-applications-8211-should-there-be-more-cars-on-the-grid
S
26th June 2023, 15:10
Just for clarity – the FIA, via F1 Sporting Regulations Article 8, allows up to 13 teams of 2 cars each for a total of 26 cars.
Any impositions in the Concorde Agreement regarding a maximum of 12 are purely commercial in nature – not regulatory.
And currently, the Concorde Agreement does not make allowances for any more than 10 teams, which hopefully makes it clear to everyone why they are so resistant to having any more teams enter, splitting up approximately the same amount of money.
Bob C.
26th June 2023, 15:36
Please, please tell me that he does not have a son whom he believes to be a future WDC. Please.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th June 2023, 19:03
Ahah, good one!
Interviewer: so liberty, you had said before you would’ve prevented new entrants; what changed your mind, allowing hitech to join f1?
Liberty: the money!
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
26th June 2023, 17:28
Can we just let the tobacco companies back in. All this dirty money from oligarchs from dictatorships is getting old. F1 has always been dirty, but this is getting to a new level. I’m assuming this is at the expense of Andretti as well.
Markp
26th June 2023, 21:05
I’m really excited by Kazakhstan being involved. Hope the livery is like Brawns but the fluorescent yellow bits are shaped like a mankini.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th June 2023, 8:18
That image in my mind is causing me headache.
Yaru (@yaru)
27th June 2023, 18:42
I think it’s fine.
charliex (@photogcw)
26th June 2023, 17:35
How does a billionaire become a millionaire? Start a race team.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th June 2023, 19:07
Also a good one, f1 teams have been making losses or insignificant profit often.
Neil (@neilosjames)
26th June 2023, 18:45
Translation: “They had lots of money.”
Nostroduckus
26th June 2023, 18:45
I woke up with a feeling this morning that I was missing something, but didn’t know what it was.
I have now found out I was missing the involvement of another dubious oligarch with strong ties to an autocracy in F1. I am elated that this is no issue anymore, because since Saudi-Arabia “really is changing for the better” and Russia got kicked out, it felt as if the money in F1 had too little blood on it.
Yaru (@yaru)
27th June 2023, 18:38
Saudi Arabia is changing for the better though, despite what the haters say.
Coventry Climax
26th June 2023, 18:46
I have little doubt that LM and the FIA favor the money of this billionaire over the racing legacy and brand fame of Andretti and GM. Never mind the regulations on number of teams and drivers; those can always be changed when there’s substantial money behind it.
Kazkhstan, lowest population per square km, debateable government, and very debateable human rights situation.
Great choice! Why would you want both Ford and GM in F1? Never mind the US, their car market is peanuts compared to the Kzakhstani, with a much bigger road relevance as well!
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
26th June 2023, 18:53
Hear, hear. We can no doubt expect a Kazakh GP soon as well.
baasbas
26th June 2023, 19:44
@darryn
Great success!
MichaelN
26th June 2023, 19:54
Then again, these guys have as much experience building their own race cars as Andretti has. While Andretti is indeed a famous name in motorsports, there’s little indication that said outfit is able and/or willing to make the kind of investments that someone like Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin are.
What does F1 really stand to gain from having Q1 be a bit more exciting? There’s no path to success anywhere in sight for any of these groups. It’s hard enough for big, manufacturer-backed teams who have all the facilities and personnel from being in F1 for decades.
Coventry Climax
27th June 2023, 0:21
Might be just me, but I’m actually wondering if Stroll is such an asset to F1. Yes he ‘saved’ a team, but that team might well have been saved by someone else as well, who, by the way, might be in it for the love of racing and not just to provide his/her son with a real life, expensive playseat.
Yaru (@yaru)
27th June 2023, 18:41
If they wanted just a seat, they wouldn’t have invested as much as they did with the performance that come with it, it’s easier to just buy a seat. They have the 2nd strongest car on the grid at the moment. You’re making it sound like they’re Haas or Williams in car performance, Aston Martin has done more in much less time.
SteveR (@stever)
26th June 2023, 20:10
Really? Andretti are building a new $200,000,000, 575,000 ft/sq facility in Indiana.
Lewisham Milton
27th June 2023, 18:16
W000,000,000ah!
Stoo (@stewart51)
27th June 2023, 12:37
I have to admit that I do not understand the animosity towards Andretti, even if he does have ties to big names in the Auto Industry, what’s the difference between them and Mercedes; AUDI; Ferrari or Renault ?
Multinational Sponsorship has always been rife in F1 since the appearance of Tobacco money in 1967, and all the fans could say was “Wow look at the pretty colours on that fast Lotus, and what a coincidence I was gonna change to that brand anyway”, and no-one gave a damn about where the money came from at that time, it simply meant that for a long while F1 was supported financially.
These days how many bona fide conglomerates (multinational or otherwise), have a really shining image with no skeletons in the closet – just by being where they are should give some indication of the number of “necks” they stepped on or obliterated in their quest for dominance.
Get real guys, there is no such thing as clean money. You just need to scratch off the lustre to see the mirk beneath.
Mark in Florida
27th June 2023, 16:34
(@stewart51 Andretti = American.
Doesn’t matter that he’s been truly invested in the idea of F1 for a long time. He has tried and tried to get in but has been rebuffed. He could bring in Microsoft and GM. It won’t make any difference. I mean after all GM doesn’t know anything about racing. They have only won at LeMans what 10 times now. Pitiful!