10/11/2023
NEWS STORY
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.