The rejection of American team Andretti’s F1 application heats up the emotions of the sport’s followers. Andretti had applied to join the F1 series for either 2025 or 2026.
However, Andretti was given the back door to apply for the series only in 2028.
Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious website The Race Glenn Freeman overturned the rejection decision.
– F1 rejects Andretti. Greed wins. We have few teams on the other side of the starting grid that the eleventh team would threaten. However, they are welcome to stay. Faulty system, Freeman wrote in X.
– If Andretti had registered under the name “DHL PayPal Andretti Fuck Yeah America”, then maybe F1 would have taken them more seriously, well-known F1 writer Tom Bellingham on the other hand, ripitti referring to recent sponsor names in the formulas.
They weren’t the only ones. Many wondered the reasons for the decision of Formula One Management and Liberty Media, which manage the commercial rights of the F1 series.
The F1 expert understands the background of the decision
The biggest reason for rejection now was that Andretti himself would not bring value to the series. According to the reasoning, competitiveness would bring value, but Andretti would not have it.
Urheilu’s F1 expert Jukka Mildh feels the reasons are logical, but also sees politics behind the decision. The F1 teams have opposed Andretti’s entry into the series, even though the FIA previously gave the green light.
The F1 media have told how other F1 teams have demanded Andretti to fork over the $600 million entry fee before entering the series.
However, in the Concorde agreement, which defines the conditions for F1 teams to compete, the participation fee would be 200 million dollars. The latest Concorde contract entered into force in 2021 and will expire after 2025.
The F1 series is going through a kind of transitional phase. When the previous Concorde agreement was concluded, we were still living in the times of the corona pandemic. The value of the F1 series had increased, but in recent years it has increased even more.
That’s why the teams have opposed Andretti’s entry into the royalty class with the previously agreed amount.
According to the decision documents, the F1 teams have not influenced the rejection decision, but Mildh sees that the opposition also played a role.
– Yes, it would be difficult if someone could come with a normal participation fee and benefit from the growth of the F1 series and the brand, Mildh understands the stables.
Mildh reminds that the decision was based on the fact that Andretti would benefit more from the F1 series brand than the F1 series would benefit from Andretti’s brand. The expert considers this reasoning significant.
Mildh understands the arguments related to the value and already reminds of the American private team Haas found in the F1 series.
– Andretti is a really big deal in motorsport circles, but nothing compared to Ferrari, McLaren or Aston Martin. A private team like Haas will still be accepted, but it’s not worth taking on more at this transitional stage, says Mildh.
According to the expert, the competitiveness of the Andretti team is also a legitimate concern. The rules of the F1 series will change with the Concorde agreement between 2025 and 2026. If Andretti had already joined the F1 series for 2025, it would have had to build two different cars. That would have caused risks.
– F1 must never again sink into a situation where a team could be three seconds slower than others. This kind of joke has been thrown about Andretti’s performance for a long time, but the quality in formula one must be really high now, when the audience is growing all the time, Mildh describes.
Brad Pitt was brought up
Followers of the F1 series have also raised two arguments on social media, which in their opinion are not sustainable. The decision implies that customer engines would not be good for the value of the F1 series.
Andretti had already agreed on a power source agreement with the American car manufacturer General Motors and its Cadillac brand, which intrigued F1 bosses. However, the power sources will not be completed until 2028.
In the justifications, using customer engines before that was not considered good.
Mildh understands the reasons why the suppliers of the current power sources would not necessarily have enough capacity for Andretti.
Autosport by Andretti already had an agreement with Renault to supply power sources. However, the contract expired last year, and no new contract has been signed.
– When the supply of power sources increases with something, it is always off somewhere. Serving other stables can suffer, Mildh reminds.
Andretti’s reasons for rejection also state that the eleventh team could burden the race organizers. To this the critics have responded that last season the F1 pit had an extra team in the races as well, when it was filmed Brad Pitt’s starred in the film.
Mildh understands the criticism if the decision only refers to a few stalls. However, the expert believes that it is about larger entities. For example, older motor tracks may run out of space overall.
Audi a cautionary example?
In any case, Mildh sees that Andretti has a lot of work ahead of it to be competitive even in 2028. The entry of new car manufacturers into the F1 series is not necessarily easy.
Mildh reminds us of the situation of German Audi. It has been agreed to enter the F1 series in 2026 and take over the Sauber team.
However, black clouds have been cast around Audi’s return in media speculation.
– Audi’s project is still being built, and it is not known whether it will be successful, Mildh reminds.
Andretti will make a lot of money, also in the future. The years are enough, but there is still a lot to do.
– The speed of an F1 car increases by 0.2 seconds every year. In order to get even within half a second of modern cars, you had to drive a lot of kilometers and get the organization working. Andretti certainly has the know-how and facilities, but yes, organizing the team takes time.