The deal between the Formula 1 organisation and the new promoter of the Sao Paulo GP at Interlagos faces a hurdle after a judge intervened and temporarily suspended the contract.

The decision results from a legal challenge regarding the use of public funds to secure the race, and the level of transparency surrounding the deal.

In December it was announced that then F1 CEO Chase Carey had signed a five-year contract with a new promoter, and that the race would no longer be known as the Brazilian GP.

The previous deal, agreed with Bernie Ecclestone, had left F1 receiving no fee over its last few years. That arrangement ran out in 2020, although there was no race.

After plans for a race at a proposed new circuit in Rio failed to come to fruition, Carey had to find a way to keep F1 at Interlagos, but with a different promoter.

A deal was agreed for the race to be run by a newly-formed company called Brazil Motorsport, which is backed by the Abu Dhabi government through its Mubadala investment arm.

Brazil Motorsport is headed by former Olympic sailing competitor Alan Adler, who has long been involved in promoting major events in Brazil, including rock concerts, Cirque du Soleil shows, PGA tournaments and NBA pre-season games.

The change of name to Sao Paulo GP reflects a new level of support from the city, which was crucial to the new deal – as was the case last year with races such as the Styrian, Tuscan and Emilia Romagna GPs, all of which were helped by regional backing.

The true nature of the Sao Paulo financial support has subsequently become clear in legal documents that reveal how much the city is paying, namely 20m Reals – the equivalent of US$3.65m – per year over the five years of the deal.

Previously, public support had extended only to payment for renovation work at the Interlagos venue.

With the financial information now revealed, the contract has been challenged by a public petition.

The legal action has been supported by local councillor and lawyer Rubens Nunes, who wrote on Twitter: "F1 is important for Sao Paulo and for Brazil - I'm a fan - but that does not authorise the city to enter into contracts without a bid, under secrecy and with a company without 'expertise' in the area, created a few days ago for this."

The contract has been suspended by Judge Emilio Migliano Neto, pending further investigation.

"The facts reveal without a doubt, at least at this stage, that the principles of publicity and transparency are being violated in an explicit manner," the judge noted.

"For this reason also [absence of bidding], there is a need to suspend the execution of the contract, to assess whether there were effectively resources to cover the expenses detailed in the signed agreement."

The Sao Paulo authorities now have five days in which to submit relevant documents.

Renault announced last September that it would be rebranding its works F1 squad under the Alpine name for 2021 as part of a reorganisation of its various brands.

In a press conference outlining its new strategic approach - called the 'Renaulution' - plans to bring together the various Renault Sport activities under the Alpine brand were explained, including the rebranding of the F1 team.

As part of the launch, a teaser of the 2021 livery was shown via an interim livery, featuring a black base with red, white and blue colours adorning the rear of the car and the trim of the front and rear wings.

The black colour is a tribute to the A500 F1 prototype from 1975, according to the team, which called the design a "temporary winter livery".

The interim livery will be in place until the full launch of the new car - the name of which was revealed to be the Alpine A521 - at an event next month with drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

The A521 name is a merger of A for Alpine, A500 referring to its F1 project, and 21 for the year.

"The livery presented today is the first evocation of the Alpine F1 team's new identity," said Alpine design director Antony Villain.

"Some of the structural graphic elements will remain on the racing livery while others will change. The 'oversized' Alpine emblem in a tricolour graphics system is the first clear-cut symbol of the brand's identity in motorsport.

"The blue, white and red refer to the colours of the French and British flags, which is very important to us. Numerous variations on all the motorsport assets are still to come."

Plans are in place for a new fully-electric sportscar to be designed in collaboration with Lotus, with both parties set to "conduct a comprehensive feasibility study for the joint engineering, design and development of an EV sportscar by leveraging the resources, expertise and facilities of the respective entities in both France and the UK."

Alpine's future road car product plan is also fully-electric, and is set to make use of technology and learnings from its F1 squad moving forward.

The strategic goal also targeted the Alpine brand being profitable across all activities, including F1, by 2025, with this bid set to be aided by the new F1 budget cap in place for this year.

"The new Alpine entity takes three brands with separate assets and areas of excellence to turn them into an empowered, fully-fledged business," said newly-appointed Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.

"The craftsmanship from our plant in Dieppe, the engineering mastery from our Formula One and Renault Sport teams will shine through our tech-infused, 100% electric line-up, taking the beautiful Alpine name to the future.

"We'll be on the tracks and on the roads, authentic and high-tech, disruptive and passionate."

Rossi recently took up the role heading up Alpine following the departure of ex-Renault F1 team principal Cyril Abiteboul as part of an ongoing reshuffle at the squad.

Current executive director Marcin Budkowski is expected to become the new team boss at Enstone, with ex-Suzuki MotoGP chief Davide Brivio anticipated to take up the position of CEO of the F1 squad.

Ferrari is under no illusions that it needs to make gains on the power unit front if it is going to return to the front of the Formula 1 grid.

Its 2020 campaign was derailed by a combination of a too draggy car being further hampered by an engine that was less powerful than the 2019 version.

That performance deficit was the result of a raft of technical directives issued by the FIA ahead of the season to stop teams using clever tricks to get around fuel flow measurement regulations.

The extent of Ferrari’s engine struggles came to light in 2020 pre-season testing, but any hopes of introducing major upgrades to the power unit during the campaign were derailed by a development freeze introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It meant Ferrari had to live through the entire season with the same power unit, with changes only possible over the winter.

The team's 2021 engine is now in the advanced design stages, and it is understood features some interesting developments that it hopes will deliver a good power boost.

Rather than going for anything revolutionary, Ferrari is understood to be looking at making incremental changes to all aspects of the thermal properties and electric power train, which it believes will add up to a sizeable gain overall.

It is understood that Ferrari did evaluate a change of concept in going down the Mercedes route of splitting the turbine and compressor to sit at either side of the internal combustion engine.

However, while the evaluation of that idea is continuing under a project group led by Wolff Zimmermann, who has been commissioned the look at innovative longer term solutions with Graz-based AVL, for now the two turbo components will remain where they have been previously.

Instead, the key change that Ferrari engine chief Enrico Gualtieri will introduce is the debut of a ‘superfast’ cylinder head – which had originally been anticipated for introduction in 2022.

The new design will help achieve greater fuel atomisation and a higher pressure in the combustion chamber, as teams to try to get close to the 500 bar limit laid down in the regulations.

As well as a newly designed piston crown (which remains constructed in steel), and intake ducts on the camshaft, it is believed Ferrari has looked at the use of new alloys that will help ensure reliability is not compromised by the boost in performance.

The new Ferrari engine will also not give up the wastegate valve (which can be removed this year for the first time), in order to exploit as much as possible the aerodynamic effect of the blown exhaust.

Reliability problems with the narrow exhausts also appear to have been resolved, as, thanks to a new gearbox, the Coca Cola-bottle area of the car will be larger and therefore the pipework has to be crammed into a smaller space.

Engine cooling systems have also been revised, in a bid to change the radiator design used in 2020 that ended up producing too much drag in the sidepods and further hampering the straightline speed of the SF1000.

The new Ferrari power unit is also believed to have a slightly smaller turbine than the one used on the 065/2, in an attempt to improve electrical charging.

The idea is to have a more efficient energy recovery system, so that the delivery of about 160 hp of the MGU-K can last longer throughout the lap. This will be important in trying to reduce the overall deficit to Mercedes.

Alpine has confirmed that former Suzuki MotoGP team manager Davide Brivio will join its Formula 1 squad this year.

As first revealed by Motorsport.com, Brivio has chosen to call time on a lengthy career in motorcycle racing to make the switch to F1.

Brivio will become Alpine’s racing director, and will report directly to the French sportscar manufacturer’s CEO Laurent Rossi.

The Italian’s appointment comes as part of a management reshuffle at the renamed Alpine squad, following the surprise departure of team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

Alpine has not yet announced who will replace Abiteboul, but it is widely expected that executive director Marcin Budkowski will take the role.

Brivio’s move to Alpine has been engineered by Renault CEO Luca de Meo, who is pushing hard to reinvigorate the French car manufacturer’s many brands.

Fiat was title sponsor of the team from 2007 to 2010, when de Meo was the Italian car manufacturer’s chief marketing officer.

Speaking about his decision to move to F1 earlier this month, Brivio said that it had not been an easy call to make.

“A new professional challenge and opportunity suddenly came to me and in the end I decided to take it,” he said. “It has been a difficult decision.

“The hardest part will be to leave this fabulous group of people, whom I started this project with when Suzuki rejoined the championship. And it’s hard to say goodbye also to all the people who have arrived over the years to create this great team.

“I feel sad from this point of view, but at the same time I feel a lot of motivation for this new challenge - which was the key when I had to decide between renewing my contract with Suzuki or starting a completely new experience.”

Brivio most recently helped Suzuki win its first 500cc/MotoGP championship title in 20 years, having previously enjoyed a lengthy spell with Japanese bike manufacturer Yamaha.

As part of its rebranding Alpine will race with an all-new livery this year, and will have Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon on board.

Alfa Romeo Racing has become the first Formula 1 team to formally announce the launch date for its 2021 car, confirming plans for a launch event in Warsaw next month.

Alfa Romeo will unveil its new car - named the C41 - on February 22 at an event in the capital of Poland, which is a key base for title sponsor Orlen.

The team said it would issue further details on “the exact time and venue of the unveiling closer to the date”.

It is the first fixed date for an F1 car launch this year, with a flurry of events set to be scheduled in the lead-up to the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain on March 12.

The delayed season opener will also take place in Bahrain on March 28, marking the start of a planned 23-race season for F1.

Ferrari has teased an unveiling of its new car, the SF21, in the lead-up to pre-season testing, while Aston Martin is also expected to present its first model since taking over the Racing Point project in March.

The rebranded Alpine team will unveil its A521 car at an event in February, but has not set a precise date yet.

The naming of the Alfa Romeo C41 car would appear out of sequence, given the team raced with a C39 in 2020, but it follows a similar design approach to that of power unit supplier Ferrari.

As work would have commenced on the intended car for 2021 prior to the decision to delay the new technical regulations by one year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 car looks set to be known as the C40.

Ferrari has followed a similar approach, referring to its 2021 car as project 673, while its 2022 car is known as project 672.

Due to the majority carry-over of the 2020 cars under the revised technical regulations for this year, some teams have instead opted to adjust the name of last year’s model, including Red Bull (RB16) and McLaren (MCL35M).

Alfa Romeo enters the 2021 season aiming to bounce back from a difficult 2020 that saw the team score just eight points as drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi struggled to compete with the midfield teams further ahead.

Raikkonen and Giovinazzi have remained with the team for 2021, and will once again be supported by test and reserve driver Robert Kubica.

Almost 21 years to the day since being named as a Williams Formula 1 driver for the 2000 season, Jenson Button has returned to Grove. Since then, Button has won a world championship, scored 15 wins, defeated Lewis Hamilton as a teammate, and established himself among the top tier of F1 drivers before stepping away at end of the 2016 season.

Post-F1 life has been kind to Button. He has won the Super GT title, raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the LMP1 class, moved to the United States and had two kids. He’s also become a co-owner of a sportscar team that won on its British GT debut last year, bringing back the Rocket name established by his father, as well as dabbling in TV punditry duties with Sky Sports.

But Friday’s surprise announcement that Button would be returning to Williams as its new senior advisor is an interesting step for all parties. It shows that Button still has an itch to scratch in F1, taking up a new challenge in a role that will be unlike anything he has done before.

Dorilton has already established a strong management team, appointing former Volkswagen motorsport chief Jost Capito as CEO to work with Simon Roberts - who worked with Button at McLaren - but for a non-racing company, the more input it can get from experienced figures within the series, the better.

It is also the latest step from Williams to break with the previous approach. The arrival of Capito was particularly significant, following the approach also seen by the likes of McLaren and Alpine. While Roberts will look after the day-to-day running of the team, Capito can look after more of the management-level affairs and deal with the broader strokes that are required at times. The decision to use more Mercedes parts from 2022 also shows a new openness from Williams, which staunchly defended its independence in the past.

The appointment of a recent driver as a senior advisor is also a new step, not just for Williams, but for any F1 team. Michael Schumacher was the last driver to take up such a role at Ferrari following his first retirement at the end of 2006, but it was more of a natural continuation with the team. In this case, Button has been snapped up by Williams directly with no recent history. Their last public dealings came over 15 years ago when he worked his way out a contract agreement so he could remain at Honda.

The announcement from Williams said that Button would “provide advice and guidance to the team at Grove, along with helping support and develop both race and academy drivers.” There is no suggestion he will be as hands-on at management level as someone such as Marko. His focus is on the drivers, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, helping to try and bring out the best in them and help maximise their performances on-track.

It’s a role that suits Button well. Speaking to Motorsport.com last year ahead of his appearance in the British GT season finale for his Jenson Team Rocket RJN squad, Button said: “I definitely don’t sit down and discuss financials. We do talk about it, but for me it’s important to hear what the drivers have got to say, because that’s where my strength is.

“I’ve been involved in teams around the world in different forms of motorsport for many years and understanding that driver-engineer relationship is very important, so I always do debriefs with the drivers. We all get on a Zoom call, we’re all there for the debrief which is good to hear what they’ve got to say when it’s fresh and discuss what went wrong, what could be better in terms of the car, the team but also where they feel that they can be better in themselves.”

This is the kind of input that Button can provide. He knows what it is like to be part of teams both mired at the back of the grid and those fighting for championships. It is the kind of experience very few people can offer. And as impressive as Russell may have been through his F1 career to date, he is still just two seasons in, while Latifi has just a single year under his belt. To have the added input from Button will be hugely valuable.

There is also the natural marketing value. Following the announcement on Friday, Twitter was awash with fans asking “what year is it?” and joking that they thought Button was coming back as a driver. It has created even more buzz around Williams, which for a team so many want to see back fighting properly in F1 is only a good thing.

Button’s dedication to the role will also be hugely important. He has previously spoken about how his love for racing in F1 waned towards the end of his career, but instead of carrying on, he was happy to call it quits and follow other pursuits, such as linking up with Chris Buncombe to buy into the RJN sportscar team. As Button said himself last year: “There’s no point having your name on something unless it’s great.”

This is a role he will have taken up because he is excited by the challenge and ready to try and play a real part in turning things around.

“I’m going to do my part to help this team back to the front,” Button said in the announcement video. “I really can’t wait to get to Grove, to spend time with the drivers and more of the staff. There’s so much to run through before this first season working together.”

Button has done plenty since his final F1 start, but is now ready for an official role back in the series. Although he will be maintaining his Sky F1 TV duties, if his dedication to his other racing ventures if anything to go by, there will be plenty for Williams to gain.

Just as it was in 2000, the signing of Jenson Button could be an incredibly canny bit of business from Williams.

According to German media reports, Red Bull Racing F1 team has reached an agreement with Honda that will allow Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams to continue to use Honda F1 engines after 2021.

The Japanese manufacturer announced this past fall that it would be ending factory support in Formula 1 after 2021.

The final piece of the 2022 engine puzzle, according to Red Bull official Helmut Marko, is for the other teams and the FIA to agree to freeze engine development for the field. As for the Red Bull-Honda arrangement for 2022 and beyond, Marko told German media: "Everything has been settled between us. Everything is in the starting blocks.

"The talks were very constructive, they were very, very accommodating, and it can be a very competitive engine in the future even without the official factory support. All that is left for the OK is when we have written proof from the FIA that the development freeze on the engine side is coming," he added.

Marko said final clarification about the 2022 freeze is forthcoming any day now. He insists that the freeze is not just good for Red Bull.

"This engine (formula) proved to be such a cost driver in Formula 1. It makes no sense to invest any more in it now," Marko said. "For Formula 1, it is a very clear decision of reason."

Marko warned that if the freeze is not put in place, "that would make Red Bull drastically rethink its situation in Formula 1."

"This is not blackmail," he said, adding that Red Bull does not have a plan B. "For reasons of reason and cost, an engine freeze is just the only way now with these ill-fated engines."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has told Austrian TV that he has recovered from a positive Covid test in January, while adding that Lewis Hamilton’s contract negotiations are being slowed by “curveballs to the lawyers”.

Wolff has spent the Formula 1 winter break at home in Austria and spoke to Austrian public broadcaster ORF about his recent Covid diagnosis, which forced him to quarantine.

“We had planned to be here for a few days and out of nowhere I got a positive coronavirus test,” said Wolff. “But everything's fine. No symptoms, thank God. It could have gone badly, but we're out of quarantine.”

All eyes are still on seven-time champion Hamilton, however, as the Briton still hasn’t penned his contract with Mercedes, having previously said he wanted negotiations wrapped up by Christmas 2020. But Wolff explained why Hamilton’s contract had been delayed.

Wolff said: “The lawyers are working hard. We don't make life easy for them, of course, when we both argue over Zoom and keep sending curveballs to the lawyers.

“But [Hamilton is] in America now and I'm here [in Austria]. At some point we will finalise it. It's how it is with negotiations. You always come from different corners, but that's quite normal.

"We have a really solid basis in our relationship. We have celebrated great successes together and want to continue doing so in the future. But sometimes you have to talk things out in detail, and that took, or still takes us, some time.”

The Austrian added that Hamilton’s contract should be signed by the first race of the season, scheduled for March 28 in Bahrain.

“[It should be sorted] before Bahrain at the latest – you have to sign something at some point!” he said.

Uncertainty over Hamilton’s contract was stoked by George Russell’s cameo appearance for Mercedes at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix, in which the Williams driver stepped in for a Covid-hit Hamilton and nearly won the race. But Wolff maintained that he had not used Russell’s super-sub performance as a negotiation tactic against Hamilton.

"We never played the George Russell card," he said. "He did incredibly well and will one day be in a top car, but our longstanding partnership is not at all about making any threatening gestures.

“We know we want to race together. And now we have to negotiate the contract,” he concluded.

The start times for each of the confirmed races on the 2021 F1 calendar have been revealed, with Grands Prix once again starting on the hour instead of ten minutes past, as was the case last year.

The Formula 1 season will officially kick off in Bahrain on March 26 with Friday's opening free practice session beginning at 1430 local time. Both FP1 and FP2 have traditionally been 90 minutes apiece, but from this season onwards they will be reduced to 60 minutes each – the same as Saturday's FP3 session.

That one-hour reduction in practice time will force the teams to cram in more on-track action to get their cars in the set-up sweet spot for qualifying and the race.

The full list of race start times can be seen in the table below. For a complete list, with practice and qualifying times included, click here.

For the first time, Haas builds the car for the new season at the factory in Banbury, England. Normally the parts were sent from Banbury to Italy, but now that so many parts remain the same, it is better to go the other way around. However, this creates a major problem.

According to the German Auto, Motor und Sport, the parts of the new car are already ready and the assembling of the VF-21 starts at the beginning of February. Mid-February the car would then be ready for a test, with everything on it. There is however one problem and that is the engine. It is there, but the engineers are missing to install it.

To enter England now, you have to spend two weeks in quarantine. Team boss Günther Steiner is also stuck in America because of this. ''If I wanted to go to the factory now, I would have to spend two weeks in quarantine. There are only exceptions for athletes," says Steiner. Mick Schumacher will therefore be able to go to the factory soon.

However, this poses a problem for Haas as the engine from Ferrari can only be installed with the help of Ferrari's engineers. They may not be able to help until Bahrain when the winter test starts. A proper test prior to the winter test, therefore, seems unfeasible.

At least once a year, the inevitable happens. Someone in the ol’ Formula One camp has decided yet again that, actually, America is very high on the series’ priority list, thank you very much. America is so important, in fact, that we’re going to get some more races and even better activation opportunities! We promise!

Yes. It’s happening again.

F1's new CEO, Stefano Domenicali, has reiterated the claims previously made by American-based company (and former F1 owners) Liberty Media: F1 is going to do its damndest to raise its profile in the United States.

Here’s what Domenicali had to say:
I want to be optimistic about Domenicali’s claims, because he’s on the right track. But I just can’t imagine it’s anything but lip service. Especially since he listed the ill-fated Miami Grand Prix as being a factor in F1's revitalized image within the US.

But I will agree that, if F1 truly wants to expand its American presence, it needs to give a bit more of a damn about the country as a whole. I lived in Austin for four years while I went to college, and the only people who ever knew there was a Grand Prix taking place just outside the city were the people who were going to the race in the first place. I went to my first US GP in 2014, and F1 shut down entire streets in downtown Austin to essentially throw a giant party and show off cool cars to promote the race, and it also allowed Red Bull to do a demonstration run in front of the capitol building. It never did anything to that magnitude again.

A second race in America could have the potential to further increase F1's profile in the US, but I’ll be honest: the best thing for the series is getting its head out of its own ass so to speak.

America has a passionate sports fan base, generally. We’ve got baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, and other forms of racing that draw crowds. The best way to get a person into F1 is to appeal to the people who already like sports and to be ever so slightly less elitist about everything. I understand that F1 likes to situate itself as the pinnacle of racing (and that many F1 fans like to situate it as the pinnacle of all sport, ever), but you’re generally not going to appeal to Americans by being hoity-toity and drawing distinctions between F1 and the NFL.

Drawing more fans is going to take a lot more work than just plonking a race track down in a different part of the country. F1 has tried that before. It didn’t really work. It’s time to start looking at other ways to build a fan base.

Toto Wolff says the decision to only agree to a one-year contract extension with Lewis Hamilton was the result of them wanting time to finalise a longer deal.

Mercedes ended weeks of speculation on Monday when it announced that Hamilton would be staying for another season with the F1 team.

But the fact that the German car manufacturer and Hamilton only agreed to a single-season contract prompted some surprise, and fuelled talk that 2021 could be the British driver’s last season in F1.

Speaking to media on Monday, Wolff explained the background to the contract length – and made clear that there was a desire from both of them to delay lengthier discussions regarding 2022 and beyond until the season got going.

Wolff said that complications caused by both of them catching coronavirus, which derailed hope of talks taking place towards the end of last season, forced a change of plan.

“We jointly agreed on a one-year deal,” said Wolff. “First of all, there is a substantial regulation change in 2022. We also want to see how the world develops, and the company. Plus on the other side, it's because we kept it very late.

“We wanted to discuss the contract at the end of the season between the Bahrain races and then obviously, Lewis didn't feel well. And in the end, we started our conversation, just before Christmas.

“So it was important to get it done as soon as possible. And in that respect, we thought, let's postpone the discussion about 2022 and onwards to a later stage in 2021."

Wolff said that the ongoing uncertainties about the impact of coronavirus on F1, and especially in relation to team budgets, meant that it was difficult to make certain commitments now about a longer term contract.

That is why he feels contract talks next summer regarding 2022 and beyond will be much clearer – and will allow time for proper discussion.

“There are uncertainties in the world that affect the way that the sport can operate, that have an influence on our revenue, TV monies, and on sponsorship income.

“Daimler, Mercedes, is in a huge transformation towards electric mobility and that means investments. So we are living in a financial reality that is very different to what it was a few years ago.

“But having said that, we are totally inline, Lewis and me and the wider group at Mercedes about the situation. So there was never any discrepancy in opinion.

“It was just that we felt we could get a good signature on the 2021 contract because we just need to get going and then find some time during 2021, earlier than this time around, to discuss the future.

“And it's not only specifically to 2022, but also beyond. And that is not something that we wanted to carve out via videoconferencing between Christmas and the end of January."

Wolff also rubbished any talk of Hamilton demanding a driver veto in his contract to avoid being partnered with another superstar driver like Max Verstappen.

He also said that suggestions pay talks had hit a sticking point over a potential revenue share of Mercedes incomes were totally made up.

“On the specific clauses that were out there in the media, I don't know where they came from because none of that is true,” he said.

“I actually read about this, and I found it interesting, but the truth is that there was not one second of discussion about any driver specific clause. He has never asked for that in the last eight years. And it's a team decision.

“And the other clause about a revenue share. That came out of nowhere. That rumour was baseless, too. So none of that was ever part of our discussions.”

Formula 1 could be poised for its first new entry for several years if the 'Monaco F1 Racing Team' can finalise its plans to take part in the sport.

Team owner Salvatore Gandolfo has been buoyed by recent remarks from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali that the $200million entry fee could be waived.

The fee was introduced last year to help protect the franchise value of the 10 teams currently competing, whilst also attempting to prevent the false starts as seen in the past such as USF1.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff suggested at the time the introduction of such a fee would help F1 remain "special".

Gandolfo's team is known to have been eyeing an entry for a couple of years, but has waited for the introduction of the budget cap and the new regulations due to come into force next year, only to then be dismayed by the entry fee.

But in the wake of Domenicali's comments in his first written media interview last week since taking up his new position at the start of the year, Gandolfo is ready to push ahead with his plans.

The Italian-born, Swiss-raised businessman, who runs driver management company Monaco Increase Management, said in a statement: "The current Monaco F1 Racing Team project was the first to actively discuss the possibility of an entry with the F1 Governance, as early as 2019, and to set up a structure accordingly, realising the potential of the new technical regulation that was initially supposed to come into force in 2021 [and was subsequently delayed because of the pandemics].

"We believe that the recent statements of the new F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, which suggest that the $200m entry fee for new teams could be waived, represent a step forward in the right direction.

"We appreciate the open attitude of both Stefano and the FIA and are ready to take the necessary steps in order to have our application finalised."

With regard to the entry fee, Domenicali said: "At the end of the day, if you look at that amount of money, it is really the value of a team being able to compete. That was the thinking behind that.

"So I would say, if something has to change, we have the time to do it. These are cases that need to be deliberated and discussed."

F1 has not had a new team enter the sport since Haas in 2016.