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F1’s In-Person Meeting Invitation To Andretti Cadillac Ended Up In An Email Spam Folder

Early last year, Andretti Global and GM announced a new partnership as part of a bid to become the eleventh team in the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship. However, as GM Authority covered late last month, the bid was eventually rejected by Formula One Management (FOM), with FOM stating that one of the reasons the bid was rejected was that an invitation for an in-person meeting about the application was never answered. Now, Andretti Global has stated that the reason it never responded to the in-person invitation is because the invite ended up in the organization’s email spam folder.

Cadillac V-Series.R on the track. Andretti Global is partnering with GM and Cadillac in the hopes of entering the F1 Championship.

According to a recent report from the Associated Press, Andretti Global has responded to the recent FOM rejection document for the sake of clarification, while underlining the organization’s eagerness to join the F1 grid.

“We were not aware that the offer of a meeting had been extended and would not decline a meeting with Formula One Management,” Andretti Global states. “An in-person meeting to discuss commercial matters would be and remains of paramount importance to Andretti Cadillac. We welcome the opportunity to meet with Formula One Management and have written to them confirming our interest.”

In addition to failing to respond to an invitation for an in-person meeting, FOM stated that Andretti team was not expected to be competitive, although the sanctioning body behind the series, the FIA, has determined the team’s technical capabilities to be adequate. FOM also states that adding another team to the grid 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.” The Andretti team bid was criticized further for its power unit (engine) selection, as it would run customer power units from 2025 or 2026. Looking ahead, the team’s bid would be reconsidered for the 2028 Championship if the team brought a GM-sourced in-house power unit to competition.

Nevertheless, the Andretti team has already assembled a development team and is building a car.

“Andretti and Cadillac are two successful global motorsports organizations committed to placing a genuine American works team in F1, competing alongside the world’s best,” the two companies said last week. “We are proud of the significant progress we have already made on developing a highly competitive car and power unit with an experienced team behind it, and our work continues at pace.”

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. How hard is it to pick up a telephone and dial a number? Have an actual conversation?

    I guess if it’s not a text or an email, forget it. Talking takes up just too much time….

    Reply
    1. The younger generation only uses email. The phone is a lost art. I see it everyday at my work. It’s like pulling teeth to get them to call someone. Emails don’t build relationships, but phone calls do.

      Reply
      1. You can also end up wasting time playing phone tag trying to get ahold of someone and/or returning calls.
        Emails also create a reference document to go back to weeks, months, years later.
        And in my case a lot of times if someone cold calls me I can’t answer very specific questions on the spot.
        I’m in engineering.

        Though I don’t disagree that if the email has gone unresponded to you send a follow up and/or call to confirm receipt of the email/invitation.

        FOM isn’t dumb either, if they didn’t want Cadillac they could draft an email, from an email address, that is likely to be flagged by spam filters.

        Reply
      2. The younger generation far more frequently uses texts over email.

        I see this every day in my work, where emails go can without any responses, but a text gets an almost immediate response.

        Many of us dealing at the professional level, communicate via email because of the associated documentation. Telephone calls are generally inconvenient and end up with annoying phone “tag” experiences.

        Responding to email in a timely manner is something that we do every day and no time is wasted.

        Texts are considered unprofessional and while phone calls are more personal, an email provides undisputable documented evidence that communication took place, along with the details.

        There’s no chance of “he said, she said” possibilties or after the fact distortion of the facts with email communications, which can definitely be the situation with telephone conversations, unless recorded.

        Quite honestly, communication would best have been initiated by a telephone conversation, identifying that some particulars were being considered that would be presented in an email briefing, that should be expected to be forthcoming.

        An email would likely lead to arranging a FSF conference via Teams or Zoom or other secure video communication medium.

        Verification that a message didn’t end up in a spam folder is elementary in communications via email, as are receipts of confirmation of reception/reading.

        It’s either a “cop out” excuse or a complete communication blunder.

        Reply
    2. Bwahahahaha!!!!! This story seems to sum up. The state of things at the general. 🙄🙄🙄

      Reply
  2. No dejar entrar al equipo de Andretti ha sido un gran error que espero lo corrijan pronto, deseo ver ese equipo nuevo compitiendo y ganando Pata el 2026!!!

    Reply
  3. I hope to see Andretti-Cadillac soon in real F1 races!

    Reply
  4. I support Andretti but this is a bit embarrassing.

    Reply
  5. The form and politeness of European culture seems lost by the arrogance of FOM. They also don’t seem to understand the limitations of their email technology. This is not world class F1!

    Reply
  6. These kind of “deals” have to die several deaths before an agreement is reached….

    (M&A 101)

    Reply
  7. f1 are arrogant a$$ -h les. The racing sucks . Everytime I turn it on the leader is 3-10seconds ahead and i team and driver will win the majority of events -BORING

    Reply
  8. The Europeans are TERRIFIED of Cadillac !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  9. Wow. I wonder who WAS in charge of checking email…and verifying nothing important got by them in the spam folder?

    Reply
  10. The underlying problem is not the email that was not read but the intention that it did not matter if it was read because the decision had already been made, not to let Andretti’s team enter.

    Reply
  11. It didn’t matter if the message went into the junk mail folder or if Andretti had shown up. Based on F1 Management’s previous statements and its laughably lame list of reasons for the denial, it was obvious the decision had already been made months ago.

    It was very political with a side of personal animosity thrown in for good measure.

    Reply
  12. Hmmm…Let’s see how this effects Renault’s “pre-contract” with Andretti to supply engines in 2026…. 😉

    Reply

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