The talk about Andretti Cadillac joining the Formula 1 grid just won’t go away.
On Friday in Monaco, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was asked about the fact that recently six U.S. senators approached the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Andretti group to look into Formula 1’s rejection earlier this year of the Andretti Cadillac bid to bring an 11th team to F1.
The fact that an outside entity may be examining the decision-making process of Formula 1 and the FIA was a topic of discussion at Friday’s press opportunity with F1 team principals.
The F1 team bosses continue to stick to the party line. If Andretti Global wants a spot on the Formula 1 grid before 2028, it is going to have to buy an existing team.
That much is clear.
And, no, there is no anti-U.S. bias going on.
“I think that this isn’t about anything to do with Andretti being American or anything like that,” Red Bull’s Christian Horner said. “I think it’s purely down to the business model that is Formula 1.
“I mean, I remember not so long ago that there would always be two teams at the tail end of the grid needing to be bailed out or being technically insolvent. We finally got into a position where there’s great strength and health in Formula 1 and (series stakeholder) Liberty (Media) have to be congratulated for that because they’ve created a model where even the worst team in Formula 1 probably has a billion-dollar valuation and you know Liberty have created that model.”
Horner said he is surprised that Andretti is going down potentially a legal path, considering the January F1 rejection statement spelled out that Andretti was free to re-apply for admission for the 2028 season. F1 said that there isn’t enough evidence that Andretti would be able to be competitive or add to the value of the series.
And without its own engine supplier (Cadillac says it will ready to enter Formula 1 in 2028), Andretti needs to look at buying a current team if it wants to join the party earlier.
“I was surprised to see that Andretti have gone down this process, but hopefully if they really want to find a way onto the grid they will find it,” Horner said. “But I think the most natural solution is for them to acquire an existing franchise should one want to sell.”
Peter Bayer of the RB team is also sticking to the Formula 1 line.
“As we’ve mentioned before, there are very clear procedures,” Bayer said. “The FIA has done a technical analysis. Formula 1 has then analyzed the commercial potential, and that’s sort of, I think, the environment we are currently dealing with.
“And I certainly believe that, you know, the sport has done a lot to reach out to the United States. You know, we have three races in the U.S. We have two American sponsors. So I think the sport as a whole is embracing the United States, but has nothing to do with what we’ve just heard.”
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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