The FIA has made a statement in response to Formula One Management (FOM) officially rejecting Andretti’s proposed entry as an eleventh Formula 1 team for the 2025 season.
FOM announced Wednesday that it had concluded the Andretti bid was not viable for 2025, citing a lack of competitiveness, works engine supply and value to the series amongst other factors as reasons for barring entry, whilst leaving the door open to a possible entry in 2028 once a works engine deal with Cadillac could be finalised.
Agreement on a commercial footing with FOM was the next hurdle Andretti had to overcome to gain entry into the series after the FIA had approved its candidacy in October last year.
“The FIA notes the announcement from Formula One Management in relation to the FIA Formula One World Championship teams’ Expressions of Interest process,” read the motorsport governing body’s statement.
“We are engaging in dialogue to determine next steps.”
The FIA opened the tender process for potential new F1 teams in February 2023 – with Andretti becoming the only successful party to pass muster.
Andretti had been pushing for an F1 entry prior to the tender process and even saw failed attempts to buy a controlling stake in the Sauber outfit.
Critics against the proposed entry questioned what value Andretti would be on its own, and the American outfit responded by announcing Cadillac as a partner on the project.
Despite this, the vocal crowd against Andretti’s entry remained on song, despite the defence of FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who said at the beginning of 2023 that Andretti Cadillac’s potential involvement “would be important for Formula 1.”
The expansion of the F1 grid has been a topic of heavy debate within the paddock, with the overwhelming majority of teams arguing that it wasn’t worth risking things financially by spreading prize funds 11 ways as opposed to 10 and the FIA has continued to voice its support for expanding the grid.
Shortly after Andretti’s bid was accepted by the FIA, Ben Sulayem said that circuits should have space for up to a dozen teams and F1 should have fewer races and more teams.
Ben Sulayem also noted there was potential for Andretti to race in F1 without a commercial agreement in his comments to Reuters last October.
The Andretti saga is just one facet of the power struggle between the FIA and FOM that is coming to a head amid the discussion of F1’s next Concorde agreement.
“We are not a service provider. We own the championship. We leased it, we are the landlord. So that has to be respected also,” Ben Sulayem added to Reuters.
How the FIA engages in its “dialogue to determine next steps” for Andretti will be a matter of extreme interest for all parties involved.
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