Despite support from FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and positive fan reaction the Andretti/Cadillac F1 bid still has major hurdles to jump through
After months of trying to get teams to support an Andretti Global F1 entry, only to be met with most outfits saying that not enough value would be brought to the Championship, a General Motors partnership has been announced under the Cadillac name after the announcement that the FIA are ready to open the door to new teams.
Given F1’s boom in the American market and its preference to having major OEM’s join the grid, on the surface at least it looks like an ideal entry.
Talking to the media Andretti said: “One of the big things was well, what does Andretti bring to party?
“Well, we’re bringing one of the biggest manufacturers in the world now with us, with General Motors and Cadillac.”
However, F1 responded with a rather cryptic message stating: “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.”
This prompted the president of the governing body to respond saying that he found it “surprising” that there was “adverse reaction” to the Andretti/Cadillac entry bid, further increasing the rift between the FOM and the FIA on the matter.
However, it is not as black and white as the FIA President appears to be portraying as many different elements come into play when considering a brand-new team entering onto the grid.
It’s About Money
In the latest F1 Concorde agreement in 2021, a clause was included stating that any new entrant must pay a $200m dilution fund to compensate for the existing outfits lost revenue as the prize money would be split 11 ways rather than 10 causing the teams to lose one- tenth of their income.
At the time it was believed that the $20m payment to each team would offset the losses over the coming seasons, however with the sports huge growth and commercial rights income that figure is deemed not enough as it would only cover losses for the next couple of years, and with reports that teams are expected to be reaching the $1billion in terms of franchise value, many in the paddock feel the dilution fee should be raised dramatically in the next Concorde agreement.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Motorsport.com back in May 2022: “The Andretti name is certainly a powerful name in Motorsport.
“But there is a clear criteria through the Concorde agreement that has to be met and approved.
“That agreement is there to protect the 10 incumbent teams and not to dilute that.”
Toto Wolff also added to Motorsport.com “Andretti is a name that’s for sure and the American market is important. But every team joining needs to be accretive, that means needs to add value.
“And its not only by paying $200m entry fee, but it needs to demonstrate in my opinion what it can do for other teams, for F1 and the FIA. Only then the sport will grow.
“We are the absolute pinnacle, this is the Champions League, or the NFL, and redistributing franchises is not the goal, that’s not how it should be, and its not the intention of F1 and the FIA either.
“But if there is a real brand coming in with good people, necessary funding, not only the 200 million but probably you need more like a billion if you want to play in this club straight from the get go. And then why not?”
Liberty Media and the current 10 teams are further trying to hold on to their strengthening financial situations by advocating for F1 to have a franchise model that increases the value of the current outfits by maximising everyone’s share of an expanding prize fund as the sports growth continues.
This means that any new entry must bring a sufficient benefit to out way the loss of commercial rights income that would come from having an 11th team.
This was one of the main stumbling blocks for Andretti as while it is big in the United States which is a key market for F1, it doesn’t have the global reach of a major manufacturer such as Audi.
Partnering up with General Motors, the biggest car maker in the US, under the Cadillac name should negate that, however unlike Audi who bought into Sauber and are investing in their own engine technology, it won’t be a full works entry.
A glorified sponsorship deal
After the Andretti/Cadillac announcement, it became clear that it would not be full on engine/chassis collaboration. Instead, in the medium term at least, they would look at a power unit supply deal, likely from Renault, however Honda have also been named as a potential supplier should they decide to come back into the sport in 2026, although the former is the more likely option.
GM president Mark Reuss said in a slightly prudish statement: “We have a signed agreement with a power unit supply to begin with, and then as we move forward, we bring a lot of our expertise to create things for the future as well.”
To many people in F1 however, it is no different from the Alfa- Romeo Sauber partnership, which is essentially a straight sponsorship deal and a great way for manufacturers to get their name on the grid. Why spend billions when you can spend a few million and avoid the mammoth task of producing your own power unit?
It is believed to have annoyed parts of the paddock and according to an article from Motorsport.com, there is talk of a push for the rules to change to clamp down on the rebadging of power units in the future.
In an interview last year Toto Wolff told the same publication: “F1 prospers because we have 10 teams, each with a different DNA that have shown commitment to Formula One and have most of the teams contributed over many years more than a few billion in spend. And that is what made F1 what it is today.
“If someone new wants to come in, everybody’s free to pitch that to the FIA. Then the FIA and F1 need to understand how creative that team can be for our business and that hasn’t been the case so far.
“If a team comes in with an OEM and says this is what we want to do, its obviously a very different game. And will trigger different considerations.”
It’s a fair thing for teams to point out and a rule change that would block any engine re badging sponsorship deals, would mean that if big manufacturers want to be among F1’s ranks they must fully commit both in terms of technology and resource.
Andretti’s Loud Push
According to multiple sources which includes Motorsport.com, it is believed rival teams are annoyed by Andretti’s very loud and public ploy to get a slot on the grid, especially when other potential entrants have gone about it in a much quieter, low-profile way.
At last year’s Miami Grand Prix, Andretti’s attempts at getting teams to sign a letter of support for an entry was only signed by Renault and McLaren, and his continuous push, through the media and Mohammed Ben Sulayem has not gone down well.
It is now believed, According to The Race, only all but one team has indicated to the FIA that they would not support expanding the grid for Andretti/Cadillac, the exception being Alpine, as said previously, Renault are believed to be the manufacturer that will be supplying the team it’s power units.
Given Andretti has turned many in F1’s nose up, it adds another layer of complication to an already complicated bid at an entry onto the grid.
Nevertheless, over the coming months it is likely that we will continue to hear talk from F1, the FIA and Andretti, before anything solid is announced.