10/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Veteran motorsport journalist suggests that Cadillac could enter F1 without Andretti.
In the wake of F1's official rejection of Michael Andretti's bid to enter the sport, the American hit back not only with a couple of surprise announcements in terms of personnel, including the recruitment of F1's own chief technical officer, Pat Symonds, but also a new facility at Silverstone.
In August it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice had opened an antitrust investigation into Liberty Media over the sport's refusal to allow Andretti Global to enter the sport, a move which, whatever way it went, would surely strengthen the resolve of the likes of (Liberty CEO) Greg Maffei, who appears to have a personal issue with Andretti.
Of Michael himself, nothing had been heard for several months, and then it was revealed that he was stepping back at Andretti Global, which essentially oversees all Andretti racing operations, to take an ambassadorial and advisory role while Dan Towriss, who along with his Group 1001, bought an ownership stake in Andretti Global in 2022, would take charge.
In a Q&A with The Racer, veteran motorsport journalist, Marshall Pruett claims that Cadillac could yet enter the sport without Andretti.
"Michael Andretti and Dan Towriss formed a new parent company a few years ago named Andretti Global which, I believe, houses all of the teams we know of, including, and especially for, the F1 program," he said, when asked about the F1 dream now that Andretti himself had stepped down.
"The F1 plans are going forward and have experienced no planning or financial interruptions," he added. "No changes are expected with anything that I know of, except for seeing less of Michael.
"He (Towriss) arrived in IndyCar in 2018 as a newcomer and sponsor of Zach Veach at Andretti with Group 1001/Gainbridge," he said of the new CEO.
"Why, the team, and Andretti, and Towriss, are working hard to present this as a happy and welcome development. I don't buy it," he admitted. "To push this hard, and to get this close to restoring the team's greatness in IndyCar and to getting the nod to make it into F1 as an entrant, and then all of a sudden, this is the time to step away? Nobody I've spoken to believes this went down in the gosh-and-golly manner it's being sold.
"I've heard some interesting theories floated from F1 insiders about Cadillac wanting to move forward without the Andrettis," he continued, "but not without Towriss and his giant funding via the Andretti Global team he controls - with its desired F1 program, and this is the expression of that organizational play. We'll see what the future reveals.
"I've heard there's a desire for something closer to a Cadillac Racing F1 program than an Andretti Global+Cadillac situation, and considering all of the money that can be made by being the entrant/team behind the program, there's a valid reason to do whatever it takes to get accepted.
"I don't foresee GM approving a massive budget to do it all on its own with Cadillac," he admitted, "not with huge investments coming across its move to going electric by 2035."
Despite turning down Andretti, F1, along with the majority of teams and manufacturers, made clear that they would welcome GM/Cadillac, and while the American giant has insisted that it would not consider entering the sport without Andretti, were they referring to Michael himself or the team that bears his family's iconic name?