F1 News: Business Expert Predicts Andretti Cadillac Legal Turmoil As Bid To Join Formula One Grid Continues

With Andretti Cadillac inching closer to finding a spot on the grid, it would be interesting to see how F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali balances the scenario in the coming months.

Formula 1 business expert Mark Gallagher is concerned that the sport could find itself in legal turmoil with Andretti Cadillac if it denies the new team a place on the F1 grid. Andretti has been pursuing a spot in Formula 1 for a while, and in January, they gained the backing of General Motors through its Cadillac brand as a partner. 

Just last week, General Motors chief executive Mark Reuss announced that the brand was going to become an F1 engine supplier in 2028 as a push to convince F1 to include Andretti on the grid. 

While the additional step has been welcomed by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the commercial wing of Formula 1 remains unmoved due to financial concerns.

Despite financial concerns being highlighted as a significant obstacle to Andretti's entry among the current 10 teams, Gallagher has disclosed that the resistance to Andretti also has a personal aspect, with several Formula 1 team principals having personal grievances.

The F1 expert also questioned if Andretti holds the capacity to run and successfully manage an F1 team, as several team bosses have been left unconvinced by the new team's plans in their personal meetings. 

Andretti Press Image

Revealing key details on the Flat Chat podcast, Gallagher said:

“What we have here is a tough negotiation going on with, in one corner, Andretti and now General Motors, and in the other corner, the majority of the existing teams who feel like they’re being railroaded into taking an 11th team and handing over a proportion of their prize money.

“[F1 chief executive] Stefano Domenicali’s got this slightly unenviable job of trying to make the right call because he will have Toto Wolff, Christian Horner and a lot of other team principals saying to him: ‘Listen, Stefano, we have gone through thick and thin to get the sport this far. Are we seriously going to give away a slice of the cake to someone? Now that we’ve got everything looking rosy, Michael Andretti wants to turn up.’

“Of course, the other thing is it’s not even just about the money. It is, I’m told, also about the manner of the way in which Michael Andretti has gone about it.

“There is a degree of personal acrimony. It might be too strong a word, but a lot of the teams really did not appreciate the way Michael Andretti went about trying to kickstart his entry, turning up in Monte Carlo with a sheet of paper saying: ‘Sign here and let me have a slice of the action.’

“I think they felt it was a backdoor grab to come in.

“I’ve then had team principals tell me that they have met Michael Andretti, they have spent two hours with the guy and at no stage did they see how he has the capability or understanding of what it is really going to take to run a Formula 1 team.”

The Legal Complications Involved 

Gallagher warned that if Andretti Cadillac is rejected by the FOM, it could soon turn into a legal and political battle. He added:

“The next few months are going to be fascinating.

“My fear is that if Formula 1 rejects Andretti – they’ll come up with all the reasons why they don’t want to have it – I think we could see a lawsuit develop pretty quickly because Liberty’s an American company, Formula 1 is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Andretti has raised a huge amount of money, relatively speaking, in the United States.

“And if he has got General Motors lined up behind him, it’s not impossible to see a classic American legal case developed to say: ‘We should be allowed in and there’s no good grounds on which you should be stopping us. It’s an anti competitive to basically run the sport as an elite club.'”