American team Andretti have seen hopes of joining the F1 grid in 2025 rejected, but they could apply again from 2028.
It was announced in January that Cadillac, a division of American motoring giant General Motors, and Andretti – owned by former F1 driver Michael Andretti, son of 1978 world champion Mario Andretti – had teamed up with the intention of entering the sport at a competitive level.
Following the initial call for expressions of interest and at the end of a comprehensive application process for four prospective teams to proceed, the FIA concluded in October, Andretti were the only candidates to meet the stringent criteria.
Andretti Formula Racing LLC’s submission was passed on to Formula One Management (FOM) for commercial discussions as part of the next stage of the process.
However, in a lengthy statement released on Wednesday afternoon, F1’s governing body announced Andretti would not be a competitive addition to the grid.
“Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the Championship,” a statement from Formula 1 read.
“The most significant way in which a new entrant would bring value is by being competitive. We do not believe that the applicant would be a competitive participant.”
F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali had previously voiced concerns over whether the introduction of a new team would add overall value.
“While the Andretti name carries some recognition for F1 fans, our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around,” the statement added.
“The addition of 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.
“We were not able to identify any material expected positive effect on CRH financial results, as a key indicator of the pure commercial value of the Championship.
“On the basis of the application as it stands, we do not believe that the applicant has shown that it would add value to the Championship. We conclude that the applicant’s application to participate in the Championship should not be successful.”
While rejecting the Andretti application for 2025, F1 indicated the door was not shut on another potential entry bid in the future depending how the team’s engine power unit set-up was developed.
“F1 felt this was not a good situation for the health of the Championship, but its feelings could change once Andretti get plans for an alliance with Cadillac up and running, potentially as early as 2028,” the governing body’s statement added.
“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 (original equipment manufacturer) to the sport as a PU (power unit) supplier.”
PA