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General Motors will not break its partnership with Indianapolis-based Andretti Global to enter Formula One and is not interested in considering other teams to gain entry to the global motorsports series, an executive with the U.S. auto giant told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“GM is committed to partnering with Andretti to race in F1,” GM President Mark Reuss told AP. “The collaboration between Andretti-Cadillac brings together two unique entities built for racing, both with long pedigrees of success in motorsport globally.”
General Motors plans to send a small group of executives to next week’s Las Vegas Grand Prix in hopes of jump-starting conversations with F1 and series owner Liberty Media about the Andretti application. Andretti told AP at last month’s U.S. Grand Prix that F1 President Stefano Domenicali was not returning his calls or texts.
A month ago, F1 governing body FIA said Michael Andretti’s application was the only one of seven applicants to meet all required criteria to expand F1’s current grid from 10 teams to 11. The Andretti application is in partnership with General Motors and its Cadillac brand.
Approval from the FIA has been met by near silence from both F1 and Liberty Media. The AP reported last month that F1 had asked General Motors to consider finding a partner other than Andretti. Reuss closed the door on that possibility Wednesday.
Andretti has a car already built to the 2023 F1 regulations that it tested at a wind tunnel in Germany, and Andretti Global is continuing to move forward with its plans to join the series. There is a tight timeline to be ready for the 2025 season and frustration is clearly building at Andretti and GM.
The only public comment made by F1 and Liberty was a terse statement that promised nothing: “We note the FIA’s conclusions in relation to the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own assessment of the merits of the remaining application,” F1 said last month.
Liberty and Domenicali have consistently sided with the majority of the existing 10 teams, which vehemently oppose expanding the 20-car grid, citing a potential loss in revenue.
The teams, who have no vote on expansion, contend that adding two more cars from an Andretti team means less windfall during the F1 season. There is a $200 million anti-dilution fee for any new entrant, but those opposed claim expansion still cuts into their profits and they’ve invested too much to share the pot.
The teams also contend that Andretti should buy a team rather than expanding the grid. No teams are publicly marketing themselves, however, and Andretti in 2020 already tried to close a deal that would have taken over the existing Sauber team.
Andretti has promised to be a true American team at a time when F1 has expanded to five races throughout North America. He’s said he wants California native and current IndyCar driver Colton Herta to drive for Andretti Global in F1, and has argued that the Andretti name brings considerable value to the series.
Mario Andretti, his father, won the 1978 F1 championship and Michael ran 13 F1 races in 1993. The father and son are among the most successful racers in American open wheel history and rank third and fourth on IndyCar’s all-time win list.
California businessman Gene Haas owns an F1 team that he got via a 2014 application similar to the process Andretti went through this year. Haas launched in 2016 and plans to again use Kevin Magnussen of Denmark and Nico Hulkenberg of Germany next season.
Haas is ranked last among the 10 teams in the constructors standings, while Hulkenberg is 16th and Magnussen is 19th in the driver standings.
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F1 is the snob series….not arguing that their drivers aren’t talented…they are. I’ll take Indycar anyday
I enjoy F1 and went to races at the Speedway during the v12 era. I’ve enjoyed the resurgence and Netflix documentaries. Closing the door in the face of great American team is a disaster. Especially for the fan base in this country $$$.
“vehemently oppose expanding the 20-car grid, citing a potential loss in revenue.” – What about the money you stand to gain by adding an AMERICAN team and growing the sport in AMERICA?! The short sightedness of the current grid is going to cost them future $$$ and the American fan base.
Formula 1 has never, ever, seen America as a market worth chasing. They’ve been able to find governments willing to pay the large sanctioning fees. They told Long Beach to get lost and that proved to be a massive mistake.
Nor have they thought American drivers were any good. Granted he was going against Senna (if you don’t know who Senna is, seek out the documentary, it’s worth it), but I think McLaren and Ron Dennis did everything they could to move Michael Andretti out in 1993.
From a team standpoint, they appear that they don’t want to cut the pie any further and/or they want Michael to overpay for an existing team. And the failures like USF1 don’t help either with the perception…
I also personally think things may have peaked for F1 in America … I don’t think Americans will continue to tune in to watch the same guy win every week by 30 seconds, while paying thousands for the privilege. And while Liberty is investing big in Las Vegas, if that event doesn’t prove to draw lots of fans every year, it will go away as quickly as it started. No different than Miami, if Stephen Ross lost interest, it would leave as well.
While I love the technology of F1 and the skill of the drivers is unparalleled I do get tired of how uncompetitive the races can be. As someone said, watching the same 2 or 3 drivers win every race and in many cases lead start to finish is just not as much fun as watching IndyCar. Indy has done a great job of putting on competitive and exciting events so if F1 doesn’t want the US in the series I’m fine with that. I would like to see how Herta stacks up to F1 drivers though.
In defense of Formula One, it’s generally always been like this.
Before Max and Red Bull it was Lewis and Mercedes, and before that Schumacher and Ferrari.
Close seasons like 2021 or the shock of Braun GP are the exceptions, not the rule.
F1 has become ridiculously overpriced. To go to the Miami F1 race, a race with a whole 2 years of legacy, one would have to pay 10 times what one pays to go to the Greatest race in the world; the Indy 500. And then in F1 you watch a train to see who 1st loser will be. Nah; not interested.
I agree and that’s pretty frustrating. I’ve read the Miami F1 experience articles. No way would I pay that $$$ to watch a race.
F1 races S uu c K. Boring.