What is the future of the Andretti/Cadillac F1 bid?
IndyCar team owner and former driver Michael Andretti will not be deterred when it comes to his plans of fielding a team in Formula One in the next few years.
But why would F1 teams, as well as the sport’s sanctioning body, the FIA, be against a team owned by one of the most iconic names in motorsport, not to mention an owner who isn’t afraid to field cars in a variety of racing series?
There's no doubt F1 is a growing sport around the world, but America has seen the biggest boom of late. Andretti is looking to capitalize on the growing market by joining the grid with his own team.
In addition, F1’s ownership group, Liberty Media, is based right here in the good old U.S. of A.
Andretti is a proven boss in motorsports already and F1 seems like the next logical step, given Liberty’s ownership, the fact there will be a record three races in the U.S. in 2023 – Austin (Texas), Miami and Las Vegas – not to mention the potential sponsorship and business an Andretti organization can generate both internally as well as in the sport as a whole.
Andretti Autosport races in IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E, and other motorsport series, but they obviously are best-known for their success in IndyCar, with four championships and six Indy 500 victories.
So there is little doubt Andretti knows how to run a team. He wants to bring a complete American team to the F1 grid to not only compete for championships, but in a sense, to make the current F1 teams even better – something they seem to be overlooking.
Or are they afraid they might one day be beaten by a lowly (in their minds) American team?
But if F1 teams are truly intent on being the best teams there are, as good as Andretti’s F1 team would become, why would teams like Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Alpine and others not want to become better themselves as well?
Here are some of the reasons why Andretti is falling short, at least for now:
Money Talks
It's pretty simple how F1 works. Everything in the sport revolves around money. The biggest piece of the Andretti puzzle revolves around the revenue share. If Formula One is to add an 11th team again, they would have to share revenue with the other team.
This revenue could come from sponsorships, constructors' championship prizes, contracts and more. Having an 11th team means the other current 10 teams would have to "share the wealth". And frankly, it's not easy to convince especially a smaller team to take a pay cut to have another competitor – which has the potential to be larger almost right from the start – on the track.
In an interview with Forbes, Andretti said about the revenue share: “It's all about greed and looking at themselves and not looking at what is best for the overall growth of the series.”
If you take a deep dive into FIA documents, the Concorde Agreement signed in 2020 has a rule for this exact situation: “Any new team would have to pay the 10 existing teams a total of $200 million to compensate them for the dilution of prize money by the new team. The fee could be waived if all 10 teams agree the newcomer would bring enough money to the sport to make up for the prize money they win."
Andretti has a few choices, but with all but one of the current teams seemingly leaning against his bid for now, it seems the only other option would be to pay the high entry fee. This fee was also based on what Williams was worth at the time when it came into the series, which means a $200 million fee might even be too low.
The political side
If Andretti is to get an F1 team, questions would be asked on the political side. Some observers believe Andretti is using the Cadillac badge as just another name to add to the popularity of its bid to join F1.
If Andretti is to get the team, he would employ an American driver with American sponsors. That statement has other teams questioning his intentions, whether bringing the carmaker on board is little more than a “badging” exercise – even though Cadillac officials freely admit they plan to begin as an engine customer before eventually building their own powerplants and potentially selling those to other teams in the series.
Obviously, a lot of questions remain to be asked about what the goals and intentions are for Andretti and General Motors.
In an interview, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said about Liberty Media, "You’ve got the Liberty guys saying, ‘Well we’re not going to pay for it, we’re happy with 10 healthy, competitive franchises from an operational perspective — garages, logistics, motorhomes — it’s all more to accommodate.’ I’m sure they would prefer the Audi model, where they come in and acquire an existing franchise."
Liberty Media executives haven’t said it, but one must wonder if they quietly agree with Horner and other series team owners, that they’d rather have Andretti take a step back and join forces with an existing team.
However, the chances of this happening are rather low as Andretti has a passion for a fully-owned and operated American team. And he needs the Cadillac/GM cash, there’s no question.
F1 will also look to maintain its image of being at the top of motorsports. By adding an 11th team, they potentially risk diluting the product – especially if Andretti Autosport struggles for the first several years in F1. On the flip side, the same number of current teams and drivers theoretically means the quality would remain higher.
When the Formula One teams originally voted on the admission of the Andretti team, it was an astonishing 90% saying no. The only team to vote for Andretti was Alpine. This was because Andretti had an engine deal lined up at the time with Renault. With that falling through, they have no votes. With this news, Andretti needed a new OEM plan.
The future of the bid?
But there's one thing to consider: even with Cadillac/GMs global name and reach, it likely would take at least three years -- or more likely longer -- for the partnership to build an engine that would be capable of keeping up with F1 rivals and at F1 speeds. In other words, a true "F1-worthy motor."
The official entry bid should come soon, but it seems obvious that Andretti has his work still cut out for himself to see his dream come true. It's not completely impossible to have the Andretti/Cadillac team in Formula One; but it will take work -- and lots of it -- to get there.
Someone or something will have to budge with how the money and political situation is right now. The question is who?