07/01/2023
NEWS STORY
Whilst falling over themselves to welcome Audi to the sport, F1's response to Andretti-Cadillac pairing is lukewarm to say the least.
On the Friday of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, when Audi officially announced its intention to enter F1 in 2026, F1's tops brass, including CEO Stefano Domenicali and MD Ross Brawn, were front of the queue to offer their corporate platitudes.
However, the news that Cadillac is partnering with Andretti in a bid to enter the sport doesn't even warrant a mention on the sport's official website, not a word.
While fans and the media greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, the brief statement from F1 itself appeared to suggest that the powers that be can barely contain their indifference.
"There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others," it read. "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 ominously concluded.
The likes of Toto Wolff and Ferrari have already voiced their unease, while Domenicali has also appeared to pour cold water on the Andretti project from the start.
In a bid to appease the teams' financial concerns - not that the sport officially embraces a franchise system - any newcomer would have to pay $200m to be shared out among the existing ten team in a bid to prevent 'dilution' of the prize pot, and the Andretti-Cadillac project would appear to be good for the money.
At a time the US is set to host three rounds of the world championship, including one event solely promoted by the sport's owners, it is unfathomable as to why they appear intent on rejecting not only an American team - and now an American manufacturing giant - but a team bearing arguably one of the most celebrated names in motor sport.
In 2020 and 2021 we witnessed how F1 scrambled around in desperation in order to put together an acceptable race schedule in the face of the pandemic, such was the need to ensure that the show could still go on.
Fans and the inhabitants of Planet Paddock, but not it seems F1 Towers, will be aware that manufacturers can (and do) come and go as they please, just look at Honda and Renault, and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that at some point the sport could find itself as much in need of teams to make up the numbers as it did on circuits during the pandemic.