Formula 1's next new manufacturer might not build a car, supply an engine, or even pay for a sponsorship. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Chinese EV giant BYD gave its clearest signal yet on how it views a possible F1 future — and it sits a long way from a full team entry.
BYD executive vice-president Stella Li was quick to cool talk of an imminent move. "There is no project in mind," she said. "The dream is always there, but we don't have a concrete agenda." Li framed the appeal in cultural rather than competitive terms: "Formula 1, it's all pure energy, the emotional connection to the people, and then it's the culture."
BYD special advisor Alfredo Altavilla, the former Fiat Chrysler executive, was more precise about what would and wouldn't tempt the company in. "We will never participate in Formula 1 just to put a sticker on the side of a car," he said. Any involvement, he stressed, would have to be technical: "We only consider Formula 1 to the extent that our technology can serve the purposes of Formula 1." The condition is the rulebook — "If we can find a way to become technology partners with Formula 1, we might be interested."
If BYD is cautious, the sport's governing body is anything but. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has spent months courting a Chinese entrant, and he has not been subtle about who he means. "The next F1 team will come from China, because the right team we see at this moment comes from China," he said — a line widely read as a nod to BYD. He has also vented at resistance to a bigger grid: "I proposed expanding to 12 teams, but everyone opposed it, as if I had committed a crime."
That China project has become tangled up with one of the paddock's biggest names. Multiple reports have linked Christian Horner, out of a job since leaving Red Bull, to a prospective new team backed by Chinese money — a pairing Ben Sulayem has publicly encouraged.
The manufacturer picture cuts both ways, though. As BYD flirts, Renault has firmly shut the door on building its own F1 engine again. Group CEO Francois Provost was unequivocal: "There is a clear reference today. I do not develop engines." Alpine now runs Mercedes power, and Provost sees no reason to reverse course. "We have the Mercedes engine, which is a good engine," he said, calling the switch "clearly a trigger of our recovery this year."
For now, BYD's F1 ambition is exactly what Li called it — a dream, not a plan. The obstacle is the regulations: unless F1's future engine and technology rules carve out a role that plays to BYD's battery and EV strengths, the world's largest electric-car maker looks content to watch from the Goodwood hillside. With the FIA actively hunting a Chinese team, the door is far from closed — but on BYD's terms, not the sport's.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/byd-wont-join-f1-just-for-a-sticker-as-fia-courts-china). Visit for full coverage.*