FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem admits "surprise" at the "adverse reaction" to the announcement that Cadillac is partnering with Andretti with the intention of entering F1.

A week ago, the FIA president welcomed in the New Year by launching an Expressions of Interest process for prospective new teams for the world championship.

Rather than react to the surprise move teams like Mercedes and Ferrari continued to issue inane tweets counting down to the start of the season, while the official F1 website also ignored the announcement.

A few days later, American manufacturing giant General Motors announced that its Cadillac brand was partnering with Andretti in a bid to join the grid, and again there was silence from the sport's official website was deafening.

F1 did issue a statement in reaction to the news, but the response was hardly likely to inspire Andretti, or indeed the many millions of fans who want to see new blood on the grid.

"There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others," read the statement. "We all want to ensure the championship remains credible and stable and any new entrant request will be assessed on criteria to meet those objectives by all the relevant stakeholders.

"Any new entrant request requires the agreement of both F1 and the FIA," it concluded, making quite clear that any approval for the Andretti bid would need more than the FIA's approval.

This afternoon, just eight days into the New Year, Ben Sulayem took to social media once again.

"It is surprising that there has been some adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti news," he tweeted, ensuring that Cadillac, Andretti, General Motors and F1 got the message by tagging them.

"The FIA has accepted the entries of smaller, successful organisations in recent years," he continued. "We should be encouraging prospective F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and thoroughbred races like Andretti and others.

"Interest from teams in grown markets adds diversity and broadens F1's appeal."

Without wishing to sensationalise the situation, the tweet would appear to underline growing speculation of the sport's owners and governing body being at odds with one another, the FIA president seeking to make his feelings on the subject clear and open to public debate.

Other than F1's continued pouring of cold water on the Andretti bid, which appears inexplicable when one considers how Liberty Media is seeking to increase the sport's popularity in the US, the main opposition comes from Mercedes and Ferrari, both of whom have doubted the long-term worthiness of the project while using the old cliche of seeking to protect the sport's DNA - somewhat ironic when one considers that the Andretti name is synonymous with motorsport.

Ben Sulayem's tweet suggests that this goes far deeper than Andretti, and is instead aimed at highlighting Liberty's increasing desire to tighten its control on the sport, and the apparent desire to somewhat sideline the governing body.

Indeed, today's tweet suggests that F1 2023 might be about more than budget caps, Max versus Mercedes and the rest.

A battle line appears to have been drawn.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Chester, 11/01/2023 19:59

"Mercedes and Ferrari lack courage. C'mon what is the historical early track record of new entrants? Not great. Let us fans have some fun.

Will Andretti/Cadillac eventually hatch into a super competitive team ala Red Bull? Does the idea make you hide in the corner? Have the guts to compete and beat them, Ferrari and Mercedes."

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2. Posted by kenji, 10/01/2023 11:07

"@Ed. Even amongst whores, those who provide the best 'performance' earn bigger rewards and sometimes bonuses!!!"

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3. Posted by Editor, 10/01/2023 8:40

"@ TokyoAussie

Exactly.

We've established that they're whores... now it's about agreeing a price."

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4. Posted by Defiant, 10/01/2023 4:10

"@Blitsharts I think you missed mine. You mentioned that points had nothing to do with it. Surely you realise that the top 10 positions in the championship was and still would be if there was more than 10 teams, be worked out by race points picked up at individual races. So they do come into the equation, which was what I was getting at.
"

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5. Posted by TokyoAussie, 10/01/2023 3:21

"DNA, my ars..., follow the money."

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6. Posted by kenji, 09/01/2023 22:24

"Given the latest demand for a massive $500M upfront is a 'straw issue with benefits'.IMO. Just look first at who is driving this and then look at his shareholding in the team,....that's reputed to be 33 and one third % Nice little retirement earner if it comes to pass. I am still of the opinion that it's being driven mainly by fear of renewed substantial competition. The sledge by some teams that GM are using this a badging exercise may or may not be true but they did emphasise their technical support was available and hopefully utilised. Badging or not...it's been used before and so what? Having an entirely new team of such potential delivers just another threat to Mercedes et al and they obviously don'tlike it. Go Andretti...."

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7. Posted by Blitsharts, 09/01/2023 22:10

"I fear that my point (such as it is) is being missed here. I'm taking about prize money, not points. Prize money is awarded at the end of the season to the top ten teams according to their finishing position in the Constructors Championship. It has nothing to do with the top ten race positions or even the top six positions in the Sainted Eighties.

For what it's worth, and if my memory serves correctly, the case for most of the Eighties was that any team that scored a point during the season received FIA prize money. Murray Walker used to call it "FIA Travel Money" but I'm unsure as to the correct nomenclature.

Prize money under the current Concord Agreement (and I may well be wrong as that document is highly secret) is paid to the top then constructors. It was once, and may well still be the case that there were two types of prize money, one paid for a single performance and one paid for performance averaged over the last three years.*

This is why I'm suggesting that some of the current ten teams may be uncomfortable with any increase in the number of constructors. I'm not claiming there's some grand conspiracy, only that there may be some nervousness about the impact of finishing the eleventh or twelfth best constructor.

As for the position of the FIA and/or F1, try searching f1.com for mentions of "Andretti", "Audi" and "Porsche" and feel free to draw your own conclusions.

*These "facts" I trot out with some degree of nervousness as it's all off the top of my head. Correction of any errors is welcomed."

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8. Posted by Defiant, 09/01/2023 20:07

"Back in the 80s there were over 20 teams competing, points were only rewarded to 6th place. A lot of times the slower teams travelled to a venue to not even be able to qualify due to the 107% rule. That didn't stop them trying. Blocking Andretti surely has to do with something other than $$$.
Something smells fishy to me.
"

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9. Posted by KKK, 09/01/2023 19:33

"It's simple. It's all about greed. Andretti should come in and if only the top 10 get a point, that's the rule and too bad if you're so slow that you shouldn't be in F1. Let Andretti have a go, it will make the racing better, its all us F1 fans want"

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10. Posted by Blitsharts, 09/01/2023 17:59

"It's not about dilution of prize money but the fact that (unless the rules have been changed) prize money is only paid down to tenth place in the championship, no matter how many teams compete. Right now, last place gets a payout. With one more team, that's not the case.

Sauber/Audi and Williams(?)/Porsche do nothing to upset that particular apple cart."

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11. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 09/01/2023 17:40

"Andretti & GM propose a factory in KSA and they're all set."

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12. Posted by elsiebc, 09/01/2023 17:32

"Com'on guys (and gals, don't want to offend anyone) If it were for fear of competition why was Audi welcomed with open arms? Audi has a recent history of total domination in other classes that Andretti can't even dream of. And where's the pushback on Porsche? Their racing pedigree is not one of an also ran either. No, there's something here that goes much deeper, much more sinister.
PS: It's not about the prize money dilution either because the most vocal detractors are spending a lot less than they used to due to the cost cap."

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13. Posted by Blitsharts, 09/01/2023 17:14

"Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm for Andretti has something to do with the fact that there are currently ten teams competing for prize money paid down to tenth place."

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14. Posted by Spindoctor, 09/01/2023 11:22

"Interesting indeed!
Nice comment from Mohammed ben Sulayem. It's about time FIA exercised a bit of authority over Formula One & put Liberty in its place.

While it's clear that Fezza & Mercedes don't want potentially winning competition, let's not forget the Bull in the China Shop. RBR have been quietly chortling at their cunning plan of getting exclusive use of Honda's (now) excellent PU until 2026. They' also seem to be engaging in some wizardry whereby it transmogrifies into a "new" RBR effort in 2026 with Honda still involved possibly garnering freebie developmental opportunities denied the others.

Should GM\Andretti\Honda come together as is proposed, this would likely threaten that cosy little outlook....."

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15. Posted by Defiant, 09/01/2023 4:20

"Merc and Ferarri should have no say in who gets to enter the circus. If anyone can pass the entrance tests and have the funds it should be a no brainer like Burton stated. The old boys club shouldn't be allowed to dictate what happens with new entries.
This just fuels my conspiracy thoughts regarding what the true reluctance against Andretti could be"

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An intriguing development in the Andretti saga

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