Brundle: Formula 1 should not be overconfident

At the end of January it was announced that Formula 1 had rejected Andretti Cadillac’s application, previously approved at FIA level, to create the 11th Formula 1 team. This decision subsequently caused many reactions, including from the American side. , but the FIA ​​only responded to it with a short statement and there has been no news on the subject since.

Martin Brundle, former Formula 1 driver and now a much sought-after Sky Sports commentator, finds this surprising.

“I am very surprised that we have not heard from the FIA ​​or Andretti since then,” said Brundle. – Personally, I would be happy to see the eleventh team and even the twelfth team in the championship. Then we would have two more team managers and four drivers to talk to, and four more cars to look at.

Imagine a situation: if there’s a big accident in the first corner at the beginning of the race, six or seven cars can get out at the same time, you know? So I think it’s in the best interest of the show to have more teams, and in that sense it’s not about Andretti.

I understand why many Formula 1 teams take this position. They don’t want to share the financial pie with anyone, they are quite happy with the fact that there are twenty cars in the race, and they believe that the pit lane is already busy, but also busy in the guest areas, especially when the film crew together with Brad Pitt in the paddock or when other events are taking place.

In general, Formula 1 says they do not need a new team, and believe that Andretti, who will use customer engines, will not give anything to the championship. I don’t know, maybe there is still some kind of secret work going on behind the scenes regarding European anti-monopoly legislation or something like that. But it seems to me that everything died too quickly.

Of course, Andretti is a well-known name in the world of American motorsport, and it seems to me that Formula 1 should not behave too confidently. You have to take a longer-term perspective, and I can give you this example: recently the Force India team was on the brink of bankruptcy, and then all employees would simply be out of work.

There was a risk that the Silverstone team would simply cease to exist, but in that situation it was saved by the huge investments of the consortium founded by Lawrence Stroll in Aston Martin. But five years ago there were other teams that were in a very unstable economic situation, it must be admitted.

Now things are going very well in the championship, all teams are quite rich financially, earn good money and behave quite professionally. But let’s not assume this will stay this way forever. Development is cyclical, everything in this world changes and I believe we have to think about the future, so Formula 1 needs new, good teams.”