- On Monday, Silverstone-based Hitech racing team went public with its ambitions while also revealing that billionaire Vladimir Kim has acquired 25% of the company.
- Hitech said that it has been evaluating and planning its Formula 1 entry bid for almost two years.
- The FIA—along with Formula 1—is under no obligation to approve any of the prospective entrants.
Hitech Grand Prix has declared its bid to enter a team into Formula 1 beginning in 2026 after announcing Kazakh businessman Vladimir Kim as a new investor.
Hitech competes on the FIA’s single-seater pyramid, including in Formula 2, Formula 3, and Formula 4, and has been rumored for several months to be exploring a Formula 1 entry. American Jak Crawford drives for the outfit's Formula 2 team.
On Monday, the Silverstone-based outfit went public with its ambitions while also revealing that Kim has acquired 25% of the company. Kim has holdings in the mining, banking and aviation sectors, most prominently the KAZ Mineral Group, Kazakhmys and Bank RBK JSC.
Forbes places Kim’s current wealth at $4.6 billion.
In a statement, Hitech outlined that Kim "has for some time been looking to convert his personal interest in motorsport to a strategic partnership with a leading racing team operating on the global stage."
Hitech said that it has been evaluating and planning its Formula 1 entry bid for almost two years.
The outfit was previously affiliated with the Mazepin family—and ran ex-Haas F1 racer Nikita Mazepin in Formula 2 in 2020—but part-ownership was transferred from the Russian oligarch back to co-founder Oliver Oakes in February 2022.
“I am delighted to welcome Vladimir Kim to the Hitech group,” said CEO Oakes. “I know his support will be invaluable as we week to build on Hitech’s success and work towards achieving its broader ambitions over the years to come.”
Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, earlier this year opened an application process for prospective new Formula 1 teams, who were seeking to join the championship in either 2025, 2026 or 2027.
The Andretti organization, supported by GM through its Cadillac brand, has been vocal in its desire to join the grid while it is also understood that entities known as Panthera Team Asia and Formula Equal have conveyed interest.
The FIA—along with Formula 1—is under no obligation to approve any of the prospective entrants.
The application process has now closed and bids are being extensively assessed.
While FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been receptive to the idea of new teams, Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, along with the majority of Formula 1 teams, have been lukewarm at best.
Domenicali has repeatedly outlined that he sees 10 teams as the ideal number while existing entrants have emphasized that any new team would have to bring significant value to the grid.
An anti-dilution fee of $200 million exists in the Concorde Agreement—the document which binds together the FIA, Formula 1 and teams—which any new team would have to pay, and which would be split between the existing entrants.
However that fee was agreed prior to Formula 1’s growth in popularity and there has been a push to raise that amount significantly for the next Concorde Agreement, which is due to take effect from 2026.
Fresh investment into Alpine on Monday, from a group of investors, valued its Formula 1 team at $900 million.
