The Andretti Cadillac team is the only one of four new applicants for Formula One World Championship whose bid to join the prestigious lineup of racing competitors has not yet been rejected by the FIA, making it the only 2023 newcomer that still has a shot at F1 participation.
Andretti Global, partnered with Cadillac, now has its bid moving forward to the final stage, while the Rodin Carlin, LKYSUNZ, and Hitech teams are disqualified for reasons not yet made public by the FIA, Motorsport Total reports.
Cadillac Racing at Sebring
The advance of the Andretti Cadillac team to the highest level of consideration for the eleventh slot on the Formula One lineup is unlikely to sit well with the ten current teams. The established teams are already opposed to the idea of admitting a newcomer to the lineup, stating that this will reduce revenue for individual participants.
The “value of Formula One is that it’s a limited amount of franchises and we don’t want to dilute that value by just adding teams,” according to Toto Wolff of the Mercedes team. Joining the F1 lineup will cost Andretti and Cadillac a $200 million anti-dilution fee, which will be split between the ten current teams. Approval will also start a lengthy finalization process not likely to be completed until 2026, even if the FIA greenlights the new team’s bid in the final stage.
LKYSUNZ is not entirely out of the running as a competitor for the eleventh Formula One racing team slot, either. The team, based in Asia, submitted new documents after its rejection and as a result is “still in dialogue with the FIA” according to its CEO Benjamin Durand. However, it is deemed unlikely to be given a significant second chance to challenge the Andretti Cadillac team.
Cadillac Racing at Le Mans
The FIA has already signaled that it sees no obstacles to allowing Cadillac onto the F1 grid, after earlier inviting new teams to apply for the eleventh spot on the World Championships lineup. The rules of the F1 racing series permit more than 12 teams to compete on the grid, meaning that the current roster of 10 teams is liable to expansion within the existing guidelines.
Michael Andretti, head of Andretti Global, ascribes the resistance of the current teams against his team’s F1 membership to greed. He said the existing members “think they are going to get diluted one-tenth of their prize money” and added that they expect Andretti Cadillac to “take all the American sponsors as well.”
Even if Andretti and its partner Cadillac are approved, the team will still need a final go-ahead to race from the owner of Andretti Global, Liberty Media. However, this will likely be easily secured given that Liberty’s CEO has expressed a positive attitude toward an American team joining Formula One.
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Comments
It is just a matter of announcement. The other three were told they were out and one was accepted.
I very much look forward to seeing this team in F1…and buying some cool Andretti Racing t-shirts.
The most interesting thing to me; however, is that GM almost seems to trying to harm its Corvette brand…absolutely botched Z06 launch; placing Cadillac over Chevrolet/Corvette in the more elite racing series while pulling out of factory-backed GT racing; announcing plans to launch Corvette SUVs; etc.
I like that the Caddy brand is being bolstered – the Corvette brand is ‘gold’ at 70 years, but is not immune to damage from mismanagement…and GM has a lot of that going around right now.
They pulled out the GT Corvette team that was run by Corvette Racing. Next year they will offer a factory-backed GT3 C8 to private racing teams like Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, etc already do. They’re changing the way they’re involved but Corvette will be WAY more prevalent in GT racing in the coming years.
Liberty Media is one of F1’s owners…. So I’d say it’s safe to say they would get approval…. LOL!
But it seems odd to have a new competitor owned by the series owners????