FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is confident Andretti-Cadillac will overcome the opposition to expanding the Formula 1 grid so they can join the series.
The sport’s governing body announced this week it had chosen Andretti’s bid alone out of those who applied to join the world championship from 2025. However, the US entry is yet to agree commercial terms with Formula One Management.Many of the current teams have objected to any expansion of the grid, warning it will place them under greater financial pressure. Others have claimed some F1 circuits have insufficient space to accommodate more than the existing 10 teams.
Ben Sulayem said the FIA had conducted a thorough inspection of Andretti’s bid before approving it. He pointed out F1’s rules permit up to 12 competitors and garages at some races have been occupied by a crew producing a film about the series, indicating there is space to accommodate another team.
“The process was not easy, but the due diligence was done,” Ben Sulayem told Sky. “The process opening the expression of interest was a big move for the FIA.
“We have 12 teams allowed to [compete] and as you can see, most of the circuits are up to more than 12. If you look that we have the Hollywood movie going on, so we have an extra team anyway. It can only add to the sport.
“If you look at our side as the FIA, what is our mission? What is our objectives? Our mission is very clear: promote motorsport, grow motorsport and be fair. Yes, there is the commercial side of it, which we do respect.”
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The opposition to Andretti’s entry expressed by the current teams is chiefly “about money,” said Ben Sulayem. “I cannot think of anything [else].” He said some teams are “worth billions” due to the expansion of the sport and the introduction of the budget cap.
Ben Sulayem insisted there were no good grounds for the FIA to deny Andretti permission to enter F1 and expects they will be allowed in.
“We asked the right questions to Cadillac and to people, Andretti, all of them and then when they came back to us, just there is no way we can resist them because the team had already ticked all the boxes. It is good for the sport, I am actually confident that they will go through.”
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, whose team was F1’s last new entrant in 2016, has been one of the staunchest opponents of any expansion of the grid. He warned several teams had come close to collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic and F1 should be wary of expanding too quickly.
“On the economic situation, we are stable, but [it is] not like we are making hundreds of millions of profits,” said Steiner. “We are still trying to get our budgets together to work on the budget cap and all that stuff.
“I would like to [remember] 2020 when I remember sitting in video meetings when the pandemic hit and four teams were [saying] ‘are we here next year or not’. We were all struggling, trying to keep alive and a lot of people and a lot of team owners have put their money into it to stay alive and to make F1 what it is now. I think there is value to that as well.”
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Following the FIA’s approval, Andretti’s fate lies in the hands of Formula One Management. While teams such as Haas have opposed the expansion of the grid, they have no say in the process.
“It’s easy to say ‘it doesn’t do anything to Formula 1’,” Steiner continued. “I always said if it can be demonstrated that nothing is going negative for anybody, let’s talk about it. But I haven’t seen anything for it or against it.
“We are not involved, the teams actually, actively, in what is happening there. It’s the FIA, which did their bit, and FOM. It’s not a voting process for us, by government, so we’ve just got an opinion, I think most of the teams, that why would we dilute what we have got just to get somebody else a team when Formula 1 is booming?
“Because who knows what in three or four years is [happening]. And I go back, it’s only in 2020 when we were struggling to stay alive as Formula 1 because if four teams fall out, it’s only six left and why would we make it weaker now if something comes up again, we need to be as strong as we can the 10 teams that are here which got through the hard times.”
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notagrumpyfan
8th October 2023, 11:44
That’s what’s called doing business. If any of those owners didn’t want to invest, then they could’ve sold to investors (I can give them some names).
Maybe it would’ve been better to get some others in who appreciate risk/reward and are open to fair competition rather than protecting an oligopoly within a duopoly.
MichaelN
8th October 2023, 11:44
Who are these people? Let’s name some names and ask them to reflect on ancient history like… 2016?
I get that they’re all negotiating to get more money for themselves. It’s not a pretty look, but I get it. But hopefully reporters can at least provide some minor pushback on such blatant nonsense. It’s their responsibility to not just quote these people, but inform the readers and viewers that said statements are patently untrue.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th October 2023, 12:38
Christian Horner was one of the first I recall mentioning this: Tracks like Miami may not have enough room for F1 to add new teams – Horner
S
8th October 2023, 12:53
Not exactly a difficult problem to solve though, is it…
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
8th October 2023, 13:30
And this is only due to lowering expectations and requirements in order to shoe horn these events into the championship.
Grade 1 license should include pit facilities enough for the rules of the championship, which currently states 12 teams. Irrespective or not of if there are 12 teams, this should still be expected, unless you are publicly granting exceptions.
A
8th October 2023, 14:01
Great. Let’s get rid of AlphaTauri, and make space for some real competition.
SteveP
8th October 2023, 14:25
I don’t think Zandvoort is blessed with mega space, either.
And I’m pretty sure Monaco would need some serious modifications in the pit area to accommodate 11 or 12 teams
As eurobrun says “Grade 1 license should include pit facilities enough for the rules of the championship, which currently states 12 teams.”
No compliance, no event – which I think paraphrases what Silverstone was told a number of years ago.
MichaelN
8th October 2023, 14:50
Thanks, no surprise it was from Horner. He’s always had a rather unique view of the world. Worked out well for him, though, so it’s easy to see why he’s not changing it.
If Zandvoort can add six new garages for 2024, as was reported in August, Miami certainly has plenty of space to do so too.
Fred Fedurch
8th October 2023, 16:00
Look at the satellite view of Interlagos on Google Maps. The first pit box is right beside an embankment and about 15 meters from an underpass below the front straight/pit lane (the “structure” beside it is in stilts). The last box is only a few meters from the sharp left at the pit exit. There is no room without major changes to either the first corner/pit exit or the landscape/infrastructure at the pit entrance.
MichaelV12 (@michaelv12)
9th October 2023, 9:23
… because the cars are way too big …
S
8th October 2023, 12:22
While I certainly want to see Andretti on the grid, I’d also get a lot of satisfaction watching F1 make a complete fool of themselves (again) by denying them commercial access.
It would be the ultimate insult if Andretti showed up and competed anyway even without the money (as they now have every right to). F1 would be tripping over themselves trying to pretend that they aren’t really there.
So utterly disgraceful that it’s actually funny.
SadF1fan
8th October 2023, 12:29
Andretti have proven themselves in every racing category they have entered themselves.
Their quality, professionalism or ambition is unquestionable.
On top of that Andretti is the most popular American raceteam.
It’s very interesting that F1 teams lend themselves for a divide and conquer narrative that only benefits Liberty Media.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
8th October 2023, 14:26
For me adding 2-3 new teams shouldn’t be a business decision & should be something none of the existing teams have any say in. It should be seen as a purely sporting & competition decision which is how it would have been viewed in the past before Liberty pushed for this franchise system we have now.
The grid limit is I believe still capped at 26 cars while the current concorde agreement I believe is based around there been 12 teams, We have fewer than those numbers so again from a purely sporting point of view there is zero reason not to allow 2-3 new teams onto the grid to fill it.
I also hate this whole narrative around any new team needing to add value. I’d argue that any new team been there and providing new opportunities for drivers, mechanics, engineer’s & other staff to enter F1 and learn is value enough and all that should be considered. We have a situation where there isn’t enough spots on the grid for young drivers, Where the F2 champions have no opportunities in part because of the loss of the backmarker teams of old who tended to be more willing to give rookie drivers a try & where they could learn out of the spotlight with less pressure.
I’m maybe a bit old school in my thinking but to me any new team that has the facilities & resources to design, Build & run a car should be granted the opportunity to compete. And if more than 13 teams/26 cars turn up then we have some having to go home if they fail to qualify. If they are uncompetitive then so what, Thats just always been a part of the sport & there should be nothing wrong with that.
This whole debate is for me raising why I feel like i’m falling out of love with F1. It’s lost it’s heart & it’s passion and is becoming more & more corporate & more about the money. And yes I know the business side has always been a part of it but even so it always felt like the heart & passion of the sport was allowed to thrive because you had people like Frank Williams who you knew where there purely out of the love of the sport, I don’t really get that same feeling from anyone now.
Now i’m more & more starting to feel like it’s becoming very sterile & that the heart & soul of the sport is been lost & watching so many documentaries & things looking at decades past recently is just increasing that feeling.
MichaelN
8th October 2023, 14:56
That’s pretty much how it works; there is nothing in the Sporting Regulations about the commercial rights holder having a say over who gets to race. Now Andretti will be keen to get in on the money making side of F1, too, so he can’t just ignore Liberty. But if they refuse to let him into their definitely-not-a-cartel then it’s going to set things up for a nice little legal battle.
High time, too. While some form of a framework is obviously required between the FIA and F1’s organisation, the Concorde Agreement reportedly goes into such detail on all manner of topics that it has become a highly questionable scheme that probably doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny. Which is likely why Liberty immediately caved when Force India and Sauber threatened to take it to the courts; and were subsequently ‘bought off’ with an increased share of the commercial rights payout.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
8th October 2023, 15:21
Turns out Bernie was the good guy after all
MichaelV12 (@michaelv12)
9th October 2023, 9:32
F1 has won the whole world and lost its soul.
Andretti still has the genuine racing soul intact.
I can see how that might be somewhat frightening for the “F1 Corporate Cartel”.
KKf1
12th October 2023, 5:15
Often overlooked and understated is the impact of evolving technology in the racing industry. 50 years ago a driver would have met the barrier if he fell asleep at the wheel. Fast fwd to the modern error and the driver of 2023 is cocooned in a cockpit and remotely driven around a circuit by the pit crew!
Ciaran (@ciaran)
8th October 2023, 15:57
I broadly agree with the corporate atmosphere of modern sport, but there is some merit to strictly judging new teams. F1 and most sports are far more professional and held to a much higher days of the 1990s and prior, when pre-qualifying and the like were necessary to weed out the stragglers. The world has moved on, and the drivers and teams are (rightly) held to a much higher standard. Though I agree 12-13 teams in modern F1 shouldn’t be a problem.
Ciaran (@ciaran)
8th October 2023, 15:58
Sorry this should have been a reply to @stefmeister above
Paul (@frankjaeger)
9th October 2023, 8:44
The big thing that doesn’t seem to be cropping up here in any conversations is the fact that maybe the commercial rights holders, Liberty Media, should possibly alleviate some of the teams’ financial worries but funding more prize money themselves. They keep talking about this limited pot of money and potential financial hardship, and that is the reason why they don’t want increased competition, and all the good things that come with that as a spectator, the other variable is the CRH’s providing more money to an increased field.
Dale
9th October 2023, 16:26
I don’t see why the teams should have any say in this whatsoever.
They have their contracts with FOM, and written into those is expansion with an amount specified – so this was always a known option. What’s happened since is that the VALUE has gone up, while their costs have come down … so they are now just being greedy by wanting more money from a new team.
Also, when Liberty bought F1, it offered all of the teams first option on shares … which none of the teams had any confidence to take up. So they aren’t shareholders by choice … why should they get any say in anything except the running of their own teams,
Finally, hearing Christian talk about ‘franchise teams’ is laughable. The teams had the option to go that route, but didn’t. They are not franchisees … they are merely entrants. And the sooner Dominicali realises that his loyalties lie first with Liberty (the producer), and then the fans (customers) … the better. The product will undoubtedly be more than 10% better than it currently is, by adding the extra team. So debate over.
Let’s see Liberty have the balls to stand up to Toto, Christian and the buzzing noised from Steiner, and improve the product they spent $8billion on.
KKf1
12th October 2023, 4:07
FIA are basically the decision makers. Liberty has merely leased the right to occupy the car park!
With the rebranding of several constructors over the years and a consistent failure on the part of the lower 60% if the grid to make any inroads on the competition speaks for itsself.
F1 is a spectator sport backed up by billions of dollars of advertising revenue with corporate sponsors jostling for their piece of a fiscal break. The biggest names get the best return for their buck and are always notably globalised before their entrance to the circuit. This can ne said of any of the constructors from 1st placed RB to the minnows at the bottom of the grid week in week out. The commonality that they share is that they are all heavyweights in the corporate sense in their respective industries. That is what brings revenue and that is what F1 sets as a benchmark to entering its elitist realm. Andretti may have had success in indy however their impact even with the added weight of caddilac who are not known for anything remotely associated with racing tech or global market dominance in the automotive industry are lightweights by comparison.
There are a few legacy outfits still entrenched in F1 that may have become stale over the years however their results and input throughout the history of the sport justifies their place in the grid.
ROI for liberty and co is not an overnight thing. 8 biliion invested in the last decade will only begin to reap a return after the first 10 year run is up. The grid is already saturated as it stands and the various marques need several seasons to settle, adjust eng8nes and to tweak the inner mechanisms that will bring a possible favourable result or two.
When reading these comments I dont think the overwhelming majority of contrbutors really appreciate how difficult it is to run a successful f1 franchise. Its not a case of turning up on race day to drive a cart around the track. It takes years and years of research , development, investment, technical know how, pr etc…
Red bull, ferrari,mercedes and Maclaren have made it look easy because they have the pockets to keep themselves at the forefront of this sport. The days of new entrants breezing in from the get go to make something of nothing are over. In 2023 f1 is an incredibly complex setup which doesnt bode well for those not tailored for the suit!