Negative Response from the F1
A disagreement between F1 and the FIA appears to be forming amid the announcement that Andretti Global and General Motors will be attempting to secure a place on the grid in the future after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s statement about opening the expressions of interest for new teams.
The news has been met with a muted response from F1, who are concerned about the financial impact of adding an extra team to the grid as it would dilute the income to the existing outfits.
F1 has a $200m anti- dilution fund, equivalent to $20m per team, in place for any new entrant, however many teams feel that this will not be enough to mitigate any lost revenue in the long term, due to the sports growth in recent years.
F1 put out a statement in response to the Andretti/Cadillac entry bid: “There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others.
“We all want to ensure the Championship remains credible and stable and any new entrant will be assessed on criteria to meet those objectives by all the relevant stakeholders.
“Any new entrant request requires the agreement of both F1 and the FIA.”
Despite the hesitancy from the stakeholders and the teams, there are potential benefits of an all-American manufacturer backed entry, given the sports growth in the country over recent years and the fact it fits with F1’s preference towards having major OEM’s join the grid, although the current plan is for the team to run customer engines, rather than build its own power unit.
Ben Sulayem’s Response
The president of the governing body put out a statement on Sunday admitting that he is ‘surprised’ by the ‘adverse reactions’ to the news of an Andretti/Cadillac tie up.
“It is surprising that there has been adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti news.
“The FIA has accepted the entries of smaller, successful organisations in recent years.
“We should be encouraging prospective F1 entries from global manufacturers and thoroughbred racers like Andretti and others.
“Interest from teams in growth markets adds diversity and broadens F1’S appeal.”
The FIA has not formally opened the process to allow potential new teams to register their interest and is likely to take months before anything more concrete is put in place.