Romain Grosjean summed up the lack of top-line opportunities in Formula 1 by saying there are just “four seats to win a race”, but feels an approach like MotoGP’s satellite teams could help create more chances for up-and-coming drivers.

Ferrari announced earlier this week that it had extended Kimi Raikkonen’s contract through to the end of the 2018 season, ending suggestions that Grosjean could move from Haas to the Italian marque in the future.

With Ferrari and Mercedes both looking set to retain their existing drivers for next year, a lack of progression for drivers has been highlighted as a challenge the sport faces.

“There are four seats to win a race. Let’s put it that way,” Grosjean said when asked by Crash.net about the lack of opportunities for drivers moving up the field in F1.

“You want one of those, but sometimes you have to wait to get what you want. I guess you need to be in a good place at a good time, and get everything aligned for you to have the chance to win a grand prix and a championship.”

Grosjean expanded on the possible ways F1 could resolve the issue, mentioning MotoGP’s satellite system that sees supported teams race with the previous year’s factory bike from their manufacturer.

“There are thousands of ideas. I’m sure everything is being looked at,” Grosjean said.

“I think we want to have as many cars as possible to be able to win a grand prix or finish on the podium, but it’s not the case right now. Maybe with a few tweaks or changes or things happening, it could be the case in the near future.

“If you look at MotoGP for example, Yamaha has got its official team and there is the other team which is Tech3, and they’ve been winning races with [Johann] Zarco, they almost won with [Jonas] Folger. They’re not an official team, they’re a B-team, and they can play there.

“There’s that idea, there’s a third car idea, there’s a budget cap idea. There are plenty of ideas.”