21/10/2023
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff denies that his objection to Andretti entering F1 has nothing to do with his personal feelings towards Michael Andretti.
When the FIA rubber-stamped the American outfit's bid, Wolff was recovering from surgery to his knees and consequently missed the Qatar weekend where Andretti was one of the hot topics.
However, despite his absence, his case was taken up by former colleague James Vowles who now leads Williams.
Having previously claimed that the objection to his entry was greed, Michael Andretti has now suggested that the objection to his proposed entry is political and in some cases driven by personal grudges.
"I don't know him! I don't know him!" insisted Wolff, when asked if this was the case. "I think that his father has a fantastic track record. I mean, he's one of the great names of the sport.
"I think Andretti, as a racing team, has been doing well in the United States," he added. "For sure it's that and they've won the Formula E Championship. But there's no grudge. If you haven't really met someone, you can't have a personal grudge."
"No, nothing personal," added Guenther Steiner, who has been equally vociferous in his objection to Andretti. " I think I know Michael but not very well, obviously. I mean, I met him a few times, but nothing personal."
Asked what more Andretti has to do to be "accepted" by the existing teams, Mike Krack said: "It's not about 'accepting by us guys', we have no say.
"The topic is with F1," he added. "I think, if I'm right, participation has been granted by the FIA. And, you know, there is nothing for us to say, nothing for us to decide. The topic is with F1."
"Yeah, it's an F1/FIA decision," agreed Zak Brown. "The FIA has put forward their view. And while the teams all have a voice, we don't have a say.
"Also, I don't think we have a lot of visibility to the teams that weren't accepted and the teams that have been accepted. And so therefore, I think until we know more, I think it's hard to say there should be more of this or less of that, because we really don't have any visibility to what's gone into the decision-making process.
"Everybody knows I'm good buddies with Michael," he added. "So I've got no grudge. I'm partners with him!"
"Same for me," agreed Krack. "I'm not one of the five. I worked with Michael in Formula E in my previous life, and I can only say good things about Michael and his team."