19/02/2024
NEWS STORY
General Motors remains confident that Andretti will eventually be allowed to enter F1.
While Andretti was quick to respond to the news that Formula One Management did not accept the American team's bid to enter the sport in 2026, thus far its proposed engine partner has remained silent.
Now, GM's Vice President of Performance and Motorsport, Jim Campbell has spoken out, confirming that behind the scenes the American team is still working on its projected entry.
"In terms of our application with Andretti, we feel great about our application," he told reporters at Daytona. "The FIA studied it against other applicants, and then gave our application a vote of confidence and approval.
"Obviously the FOM made their statement," he continued, "and we have asked for a follow up meeting with FOM, and so we will work through that.
"We do believe between Andretti and Cadillac that we have got the capability of fielding a competitive entry," he insisted. "We are not saying that it is easy, but we do between our two organisations have examples in our history of where we have been successful in other motorsports categories, and that is true of Cadillac and Andretti.
"With that said, our joint teams are continuing to develop our car at pace. So, that is where we are at."
While refusing Andretti's proposed entry for 2026, F1 said it would reconsider the situation in 2028 providing General Motors enters as an engine manufacturer.
"As I said, we believe in the application we submitted," said Campbell. "And in that application we articulated the abilities of both Andretti as a race team, and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity. So, we feel confident in the application and are asking for a meeting with FOM."
However, he was keen to stress that a GM power unit - to be branded Cadillac - would not be possible before 2028 due to the regulations.
"When you register to be a power unit, there is a deadline to do that, and for us it was last June for 2028," he said. "If you wanted to develop an engine sooner, then you would have had to register the previous year for that. So, it's simply a regulation."