General Motors president has said that his company has no intention of entering F1 unless it is in partnership with Andretti.

In January, as opposition to the Andretti bid continued to ramp up, Michael Andretti through a curve ball when asked what his team would bring to the party.

"We're bringing one of the biggest manufacturers in the world with us now with General Motors and Cadillac," he replied. "We feel that was the one box that we didn't have checked that we do have checked now.

"We'll be bringing a tremendous amount of support to Formula One and it's hard for anyone to argue with that," he added.

However, several months down the line, and despite being given the green light by the FIA, in a case of brazen, unmitigated cheek, whilst using every excuse in the book to outline why Andretti should not be allowed to enter the sport, F1 and the majority of the teams have admitted that they would welcome (engine) partner GM, no doubt also licking their lips at the prospect of poaching any potential sponsors the American team might have brought on board.

"Williams is against the addition of an 11th team," said Williams boss James Vowles in Qatar. "And very strongly against.

"My responsibility is to 900 employees within my company," he explained. "If you go look at Companies House - you can go look it up for Williams - we've submitted it now, you can see that we're lossy. We're very lossy. In fact, compare it from '21 to '22, you'll see that losses are in the tens of millions more. Compare it to '23, which you won't see but I'll guarantee you, it's multiples above that. The reason why is we're investing in this sport, to become better.

"We've been clear from the beginning," he continued, "we're more than happy to bring in new entities, but the pie has to grow as a result of it, not shrink, and so far it's just shrinking.

"For clarity on that, that's not against either Andretti or GM, quite the opposite. I welcome GM open-armed, and Williams welcomes GM open-arms and I hope to forge a relationship with them, should things not work out. They are an incredible entity that I think will make the sport better. So, it's not that we're close-minded to more people coming into the sport, but what we're very careful on is protecting the sport we have right now."

Asked, based on his comment, whether Williams had already been in contact with GM about a possible engine deal in the future, Vowles replied: "No, no... we obviously have a Mercedes power unit in the back. We have nothing agreed yet for '26.

"My point was more that an organisation, an OEM like GM absolutely would be welcome in our sport, and we would give welcome arms also to them at that stage but they're clearly linked to Andretti. It's not a question of that and we're not in talks with them at the moment."

Vowles' keen anticipation of GM entering F1 - but without Andretti - is shared by many within the paddock, including Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and Stefano Domenicali.

However, speaking to AP, GM president Mark Reuss, has made it clear that if F1 rejects Andretti it rejects his company also.

"GM is committed to partnering with Andretti to race in F1," he told AP. "The collaboration between Andretti-Cadillac brings together two unique entities built for racing, both with long pedigrees of success in motorsport globally."

With senior executives from the American giant set to attend next weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix in a bid to lobby F1 bosses, it will be interesting to watch the likes of Vowles, and possibly Guenther Steiner, sucking up to Reuss and his colleagues.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Mad Matt, 14/11/2023 9:35

"@kenji I hadn't heard that and was basing myself on an article I read, I think on The Race, going into the details of what Andretti was offering and what the other teams excuses for rejecting the team might be :-)"

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2. Posted by kenji, 13/11/2023 13:52

"@ Mad Matt...I was under the impression that the Renault deal had expired,"

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3. Posted by Mad Matt, 13/11/2023 13:08

"Aren't GM twisting the facts a little here? My understanding is that they're just sending a bit of money to re-badge a Renault which isn't really an OEM brining new engines in. They might talk about doing that but the contractual commitment is just for rebadging the Renault. If they're really committed to more then why not sign up for more?

None of this means I'm against adding a new team, quite the opposite but GM don't appear to be delivering what some people think... or I've misunderstood.

As for Haas and the bottom of the grid: They can't all be winners and a healthy F1 has got to be one where even the least successful teams can survive... to a point. Perhaps we should have an F1 second level championship where the bottom two F1 teams get relegated to and 2 new teams get promoted up in their turn :-)"

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4. Posted by Editor, 13/11/2023 7:17

"We know, for a cast-iron, 100% fact that until two years ago Gene Haas was actively looking to sell the team.

The exposure the team had given to his CNC business was on the wane and this, combined with the cost of running the team and its decline made it no longer viable.

However, he made clear to a very, very, very reliable source that he would rather close the team down lock, stock and barrell than sell it at a loss.

At which point Drive to Survive, courtesy of the lockdowns, began to have its impact."

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5. Posted by kenji, 12/11/2023 23:02

"What is the point of Haas? A very good question My guess is that it it is heavily weighted towards the financial attributes that flow from having an F1 licence. Michael Andretti stated that he had approached every team earlier this year to test the waters around an acquisition...which was totally rebuffed. I would imagine that any Andretti offer would've been substantial so either it was still too low [against some teams overinflated estimates ] or it was a combined exercise formulated to keep the Andrettis out of F1. Why should that be? In a word, competition. Competition for a larger slice of the existing pie firstly and secondly competition for titles and bragging rites. Gene Haas, some time back, made it quite clear that he was benefitting from the core exposure that has bolstered the returns for his HAAS CNC Machine building business. Both future capital gain forecast returns and current marketing pluses would satisfy the question of why HAAS are in F1. IMO that is. "

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6. Posted by BillH, 12/11/2023 16:46

"What's the point of the ownership of minor teams (Haas, Alpha Tauri, Williams)?

Ego.

Why do the teams want GM and not Andretti?

Another power unit supplier to use to bargain down the price of the existing units."

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7. Posted by Editor, 12/11/2023 8:56

"In all honesty, I have to ask, based on current performance - and ignoring its attitude towards Andretti - what is the point of Haas?

Sadly, the same might be asked of Williams and AlphaTauri where the owners look to be hanging on as long as possible before selling for the right price.

It's rather like the owner of the dilapidated house that refuses to sell because he's hoping for a wealthy developer to appear."

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8. Posted by kenji, 12/11/2023 1:50

"The longer this issue rolls on the more speculation that arises. I now view the entire proposal as most likely a deeply entrenched strategic play by some to extract very large multiples of the existing entry fees, given the backing of a US major as the Andretti partner. The fact that there doesn't appear to be any defininitive timeline for a final decision, which is of itself questionable as it enables protagonists to stretch out the process at a considerable cost to the applicants. The Andretti/GM consortium should be applying pressure for a decision via alternative routes, possibly legal, if no decision is forthcoming by the end of the year. The second issue is as I see it just a general fear of more competition amongst some. We've seen this year the abject failure of some teams to meet the demands of an evergrowing standard of performance expected by world class engineering perfectionists. Having another potentially competetive force to contend with is anathema to some as their image would be even further dented if not at the sharp end consistently!. The FIA should somehow seek to extend their influence over these matters as it is detrimental to F1 to be seen as merely a 'club' that excludes all but the chosen few to compete....IMO the current structure visually presents as being antii competitive and that's not good for the future."

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9. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 11/11/2023 16:12

"Why the dislike of Andretti? Someone needs to run GM's team."

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10. Posted by Team Hack, 11/11/2023 16:11

"Surely the existing teams always knew that some extra teams could at any time be invited to participate in the future as it is written into the rules.

They (the teams) have had it good for nearly a decade with only 10 teams but obviously always thought it would never happen/expand.
No ones fault,that's life.

I also agree with Bernie that 20 cars is a small grid and looks like it.

The worry about not having enough garages? C'mon guys if you can rebuild Las Vegas a couple of extra garages is no big deal."

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11. Posted by Dirt, 11/11/2023 14:40

"Turk Thrust lives!"

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12. Posted by Max Noble, 11/11/2023 1:10

"…if I didn’t know better I’d say the “Drive to Survive” scripting unit were behind the whole pantomime…!
"

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13. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 10/11/2023 22:38

"Good. Planet Paddock need to think long and hard about the consequences of the EU developing an interest in anticompetitive practices."

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14. Posted by Superbird70, 10/11/2023 16:13

"Everyone seems to want to be the GM works team that dominates under the new rules.
"

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15. Posted by Chester, 10/11/2023 13:40

"Oh Burton, don't you know you have to kiss the ring to enter F1? So sad. So insular. Good for Mark Reuss. Straight forward.

"

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No Andretti, no F1, says GM

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