The FIA has given Andretti Formula Racing the green light to join the Formula 1 grid, subject to it reaching a commercial agreement with FOM.
Yeah the FIA approved them but FOM has not yet, kind of misleading title on the article.
But while the FIA is happy with the Andretti bid and believes it fulfils all the criteria it has laid down, that does not mean that the squad will definitely get a place on the grid.
Andretti now needs to reach a satisfactory commercial deal with FOM, and there has long been a known resistance to the field getting expanded beyond 10 teams.
I think the mindsets are too different for that partnership to make sense.
Andretti has a stated goal of being able to fight for the F1 title in 5-6 years and had started throwing money and resources at the prospect of being on the grid. While they will eventually be bound to the cost cap like everyone else, they’ve already shown a willingness to use their financial standing to their advantage. They don’t just want to compete. They want to win, and it shows.
Haas on the other hand have been on the grid since 2016 and had an F1 program at least a couple years before that. With several seasons on the books they’ve shown little willingness to do much more than survive in F1. They could be building their own cars, or Gene could have taken the initiative to add carbon fiber manufacturing to his company holdings. Anything but tread water and pray for a miracle as the Steiner Ship goes down.
It’s hard for me to believe that combination of leaders would be anything but a headache for Andretti and a detriment to a team. I think his offers to buy the Haas team show Michael wants his own team, or at least wants to be the one running the show. Who knows what Gene wants out of all this.
Andretti has a stated goal of being able to fight for the F1 title in 5-6 years
When they entered the sport, Haas also claimed that they wanted to fight for the title in 5-6 years, and that their European base was just temporary and they would move completely to the US. Just like Andretti is doing right now.
Promising things is very cheap, comitting not do much.
FOM approval will either include the upfront joining fee or the agreement of all the teams, correct?
Or do the teams have a veto regardless?
I read something that suggested the teams can’t actually stop Andretti from competing. But they can stipulate that they receive no TV coverage or something equally as bonkers.
If it has to be limited to 10 teams then there should be some system that pushes a team out if they fail to perform. Not just a boy’s club where once you’re in you’re good forever.
The teams have no say (at least formally, in practice they could boycott the races or even threat again to create their breakaway series). FIA only can add them to the entrants list. Everything else is FOM.
TV rights? FOM. Contracts with the circuits? FOM. Contracts with DHL? FOM. Contracts with Pirelli? FOM.
So if FOM said so, Andretti wouldn’t be able to ship their cars, enter the circuits or even have tires.
I really hope Andretti ends up being able to join.
More cars on track lead to more racing–and I think Andretti is genuinely interested in being a competitive team. Even if they end up over-promising like Haas we’ll still end up with more competition overall.
