Everyone was already aware of the most important news at the beginning of this week, but now the FIA has officially confirmed that Andretti Formula Racing LLC’s application has been approved. The federation considers the project by Michael Andretti and his partners from General Motors to be quite thorough and meets all formal requirements.
But this does not at all mean that a new team will appear in the World Championship in the near future, as approval at the federation level is only a preparatory stage and the final say still belongs to Formula 1, namely Liberty Media and the ten existing teams.
We have spoken more than once about their attitude to the prospect of the arrival of an eleventh participant, to put it mildly, with reluctance, but this was all theory and now Formula 1 must take certain practical steps. What they will be will become clear from further developments, but for now one indicative fact can be cited: on the official website of the championship for the last 24 hours, the news that Andretti’s application was approved by the FIA did not appear.
During this time, there were many different posts on the Formula 1 pages on social networks, but not on this topic. However, the championship’s owners did make a brief statement, which was quoted by Sky Sports: “We have noted the FIA’s findings regarding the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own analysis executing the merits of the only remaining application.”
That’s all. The contender for participation in the championship has not even been named yet. Sky Sports suggests this is purely for commercial reasons and the next phase of Andretti’s bid could drag on for months.
It is unlikely that Michael Andretti will be surprised by this, because at the beginning of this year he said in an interview with Forbes that the negative reaction of some teams is explained by “exclusively greed and their own selfish interests”, as they do not want to divide the Formula 1 prize fund in several parts.
The main condition put forward by F1 management and the traditional teams is extremely vague: the arrival of a new entrant must “increase the value of the championship”. Therefore, Andretti Cadillac’s application will be analyzed solely from a financial perspective, and this process could take indefinitely.
On the same topic, it is worth quoting a few sentences from the text of The Race, which is given the characteristic headline: “Formula 1 embarks on the worst-case scenario in connection with the Andretti Cadillac application”: “One or other resolution of the situation, which has been dragging on for a whole year, could be resolved by full approval or immediate categorical refusal. Instead, Formula 1 remains stuck in a fog-shrouded intermediate phase: if the application receives formal approval from the FIA, it will mean an eleventh team in the championship for many people. However, a discussion on the “commercial component” will soon begin, which may prove fruitless, which will only lead to further delays to the entire process.
And the way F1 Andretti will fully inspect Cadillac and come to a decision could cause an extremely negative and even hostile reaction from many people.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
