Former Renault F1 senior and current Hyundai Motorsport team principal Cyril Abiteboul recently squashed rumors about South Korean auto giants entering the single-seater motorsport series. The French engineer explained why Hyundai would not enter the sport in the near future.
After FIA announced new power units and technical regulations for the 2026 season, many reports emerged of auto companies like Hyundai, Audi, and Porsche trying to enter the sport. While Audi confirmed their entry with Sauber, and Porsche failed to partner with Red Bull, there were speculations surrounding Hyundai's possible involvement in F1.
Several reports hinted that the South Korean giants could enter the sport soon, but the head of their motorsport branch, Cyril Abiteboul, explained why Hyundai wouldn't enter F1, at least in the near future.
According to "Autoweek", the Frenchman spoke about expanding the company's motorsport wing during Rally Finland. He initially explained that Hyundai wants to be 'authentic', and not just limit itself to being a team sponsor.
"I think we are not ready for Formula 1. I think Formula 1 is such a world in itself, that in order to consider Formula 1 other than being a sponsor—as we are very authentic in what we do, so we have no interest in paying for someone else’s bills, it’s not our style, we don’t want to be a sponsor—if we don’t want to be a sponsor then we need to be in control of the technology," Abiteboul said.
He added that if Hyundai wants to enter the sport as a proper team, it needs full control of the technology that goes into making an F1 car, which the company is not ready for. He opined that the company could look towards the single-seater series in the long-term future, but not anytime soon.
"Therefore it’s clearly something that we are not ready for; [it’s] not something that would interest us, maybe in the long-term future, but it’s something that we are absolutely not ready for in the short-term," he added.
Hyundai Motorsport senior outlines the timeline required to prepare for entering F1
While explaining why Hyundai Motorsport is not ready for F1, Cyril Abiteboul also explained how long it could take for a company's racing division to prepare for the sport.
As per "Autoweek", the French engineer said that the next rule change in the sport could take place in 2031, which will again give automotive giants to consider entering the sport. Though he clarified that Hyundai has not decided anything on joining the grid in 2031, he cited Audi as an example to explain how it takes almost five years for a racing division to prepare for F1.
"The next only possible entry would be ’31, but I’m not saying we’re decided on ’31, [just] it’s a five-year process—you have the Audi example, for ’26 they decided in ’21 [to enter]," Abiteboul said.
Cyril Abiteboul worked in the sport ever since 2001. He started his career as a website manager for Renault and was then promoted to Business Development Manager in 2007. Three years later, he became the team's executive director in 2010.
He then joined Caterham in 2012 as a team principal. In 2014, he left Caterham and returned to Renault as a managing director. Eventually, he left Renault and F1 in 2021.