F1 says No to Andretti

The news is not unexpected but the Formula 1 Group has announced that it does not believe that Andretti has shown that it would add value to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and so the application should not be successful. F1 added that “we would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 Championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team designing all allowable components in-house. In this case there would be additional factors to consider in respect of the value that the applicant would bring to the championship, in particular in respect of bringing a prestigious new OEM to the sport as a PU supplier.”

In a lengthy statement F1 said that the process after the FIA said it was satisfied with Andretti’s application was for there to be “an assessment by the Commercial Rights Holder of the applicant’s value to the championship”. F1 said that it had written to Andretti with a series of questions in October and subsequently offered a meeting to discuss the entry, which Andretti did not take up.

F1 said that it looked at the “broad range of ways in which value could be provided, including value to fans, the prestige and reputational value of the sport, the competitive balance of the championship and the sustainability goals of the sport”. It also looked into power unit supplies, the opinions of “key stakeholders” to understand what they thought, and an assessment of the operational impact of adding an 11th team, in addition to the financial impact of new team on F1’s financial results as an indicator of value; and the financial sustainability of the team. The assessment did not involve any consultation with the current teams, but F1 says it took account of the impact of the entry of an 11th team on all commercial stakeholders in the Championship.

The conclusions reached were that the presence of an 11th team would not, in and of itself, provide value to the championship.  It said that the most significant way in which a new entrant would bring value is by being competitive, in particular by competing for podiums and race wins.

“This would materially increase fan engagement and would also increase the value of the championship in the eyes of key stakeholders and sources of revenue such as broadcasters and race promoters”.

F1 said that the application “contemplates an association with General Motors (GM) that does not initially include a PU supply, with an ambition for a full partnership with GM as a PU supplier in due course, but this will not be the case for some years. Having a GM PU supply attached to the application at the outset would have enhanced its credibility, though a novice constructor in partnership with a new entrant PU supplier would also have a significant challenge to overcome.”

It said that Andretti proposed to build a car in 2025 and then a completely new car for the new rules in 2026 but that it was dependent on a compulsory supply from a rival PU manufacturer which would “be reticent to extend its collaboration beyond the minimum required while Andretti continues its plan to collaborate with GM in the longer term. F1 says that any compulsory PU supplier would this see as “a risk to its intellectual property and know-how”. Consequently, F1 concluded that trying to build two completely new cars in the first two years “gives us reason to question their understanding of the scope of the challenge involved”.

F1 said that it was a technical challenge “of a nature that the applicant has not faced in any other formula or discipline in which it has previously competed, and it proposes to do so with a dependency on a compulsory PU supply in the initial years of its participation”. On this basis, F1 said that it did not believe that Andetti would be a competitive participant.

The process thus concluded that an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the championship because the value would come from being competitive but F1 did not believe that this would be the case. F1 accepted that the Andretti name “carries some recognition for F1 fans,” but said that “our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around”. 

It also concluded that an 11th team would place an operational burden on race promoters, would subject some of them to significant costs, and would reduce the technical, operational and commercial spaces of the other competitors. F1 said it could not identify “any material expected positive effect” on its financial results.

Andretti was obviously expecting the bad news as stories emerged yesterday, showing n Andretti 2025 model in the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne.

We will see what happens next.