12/01/2023
NEWS STORY
Cadillac's Global Vice President insists he is undeterred by F1's lukewarm reaction to the news the brand is partnering with Andretti.
It's a week since General Motors announced that Cadillac is to partner with Andretti with a bid to enter the sport, however as far as the powers-that-be are concerned... tumbleweed.
Indeed, such has been the indifference that at the weekend FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem took to social media, expressing surprise at the lack of a reaction.
Though opting to maintain their silence publicly, certain teams have clearly been talking to their preferred media, giving all manner of reasons as to why they remain unconvinced by Andretti.
No longer satisfied with a $200m dilution payment, the ten teams are now understood to be seeking $600m - that's $0.6bn - before even considering whether the American upstarts should be allowed membership to 'their' club.
Meanwhile, it becomes increasingly clear that the sport's owners and its governing body are at odds with one another.
Despite Cadillac's involvement being described as merely a rebadging, sponsorship deal, the company's Global Vice President, Rory Harvey says otherwise.
"We think that in terms of the partnership between Andretti and General Motors and Cadillac that we have a very good proposition," he said. "We wouldn't have gone forward in announcing our intent to submit an Expression of Interest if we didn't think it was a proposition that fulfilled the requirements and give us the ability to succeed.
"From that point of view, there is a long way to go yet in this process," he admitted. "The Expression of Interest and the details have not come out exactly yet, so we have that to go as a first step. We'll need to submit our Expression of Interest and then see how the process plays out."
Asked specifically about the reaction, he said: "I don't want to speculate in terms of some of the articles that have been written. Internally, we're super excited.
"I know from the Andretti organisation's perspective they are super excited," he added, "and we will do our very best in terms of our Expression of Interest and be able to showcase what we believe that we could bring to Formula 1.
"The partnership we discussed last week is what will give us the ability to perform. We believe we have a blend of skillsets across the organisations to put together a package that ensures we will be competitive."