Andretti’s bid to become Formula 1’s 11th team in 2025 or 2026 has been rejected by Formula One Management.
The American team’s bid, which has been headed up by former McLaren driver Michael Andretti and his father Mario, the 1978 world champion, had been passed to FOM for commercial considerations after its application had passed the first two stages of the application process, which were run by the FIA, F1’s governing body, in October.
But F1, as the sport’s commercial rights holders, had the final say and after several months of reviewing the submission have announced that Andretti’s application has not passed the final test for entry.
Andretti’s bid was in conjunction with Cadillac, which is owned by American car giant General Motors.
It is understood that F1’s 10 teams had no role to play in FOM’s deliberations on the matter.
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Former racing driver Michael Andretti believed his team, Andretti Autosport, could bring more into Formula 1 as he aims to gain entry into the sport in 2025
A majority of F1’s existing teams had publicly opposed the expansion of the grid on commercial grounds, arguing that Andretti would not bring sufficient added value to the sport to negate the loss of income with the prize pot being split 11 ways instead of 10.
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Williams and Ferrari team principals James Vowles and Fred Vasseur shared their views on the addition of an 11th team to the F1 grid at the Qatar GP
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at last October’s US GP, Michael Andretti said: “It’s a mystery to me in some ways, why they [the teams] are pushing back.
“They say we’re slicing the pie, but I think the point is, hopefully we bring in more than we’re taking away, and we really believe that.
“If you look at the fan support on all of the surveys that have been done, we think that we’re going to add to it, not take away.”
More to follow…
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