A few days after the FIA has accepted Andretti Autosport’s application to enter Formula 1 as the possible 11th team, things didn’t go off to a good start when it comes to entering commercial discussions with the current 10 teams & the sports promoter Liberty Media itself. So far McLaren is 100% supportive through boss Zak Brown who has a great business relationship with Andretti in Supercars here, as well as Renault’s factory team Alpine as a honour to initially supply Andretti their engines if accepted. Then Aston Martin said that if the sport’s ain’t broken don’t fix it despite initially being happy to see Andretti enter the sport last year, but then probably Cadillac joining forces with Andretti at the start of this year saw their heads turn & say it’s best we stay with 10 teams. Meanwhile, Ferrari is not convinced what value Andretti can offer to this sport when a few teams didn’t do so well before shutting down last decade between 2010-2016.
Plus, Williams said that the price money pot will get smaller if they join in, as well as having to look after their big 900 + staff first where they’re happy with the direction F1 is heading right now. Although they wouldn’t be against having a new manufacturer like Cadillac/General Motors, just not a new team like Andretti. The score is 2-2 all right now as don’t think any other existing 10 teams will lend its support to Andretti. Red Bull/Alpha Tauri’s concern is the distribution of profits which is what WillIiams said the other day, while Haas would still straight out just say no like Aston Martin. All we can hope for now is for Toto Wolff from Mercedes to be 100% convinced on what Andretti has to offer in Formula 1 like the resources, budget, etc. I’m sure that will help Ferrari & Alfa Romeo/Sauber change their minds on how a potential 11th entry will look like when competing v 10 teams on-track.
The good news is that the 10 teams will have no say on whether or not if Andretti is the correct 11th team to join F1 as we can hope from Liberty Media now is for them to be on the same page as Andretti. That way, not they can work something out in order to give Andretti the opportunity to make a competitive name for themselves in Formula 1, but also help ensure the current 10 teams some stability when it comes to the commercial value as well. So the anti-dilution fee will no longer settle at $200 million, they should instead work at a counter offer of $400 million for the first year, then $500-600 million afterwards if Andretti can post regular Top 7-10s + occasion Top 3s – everyone wins.
Growth/Expansion should be taken one step at a time. Since F1 has reduced a 10-team series back in 2018, that Netflix documentary + seeing all teams being competitive saw its value rise overtime that comes with 2-3 US races now (Austin, Miami & Las Vegas). That is something Rugby Australia & Super Rugby needs to learn if they wish to become competitive by winning games again by having three strong teams instead of five right now. A US-based team is something the sport’s fans love to see as the next step, we just hope to see both Andretti & Liberty Media reach an agreement in three ways:
- Ensure the 10 teams their financial security by growing the prize money pot as long as Andretti is willing to pay double the anti-dilution fee of $400-500 million.
- Give Andretti the chance to show its worth in Formula 1 from their own home in the US when it comes to a manufacturing, resources & competitive standpoint.
- And keep F1’s value intact while growing even further where all 11 teams thrive that will in turn have a lot more US-based fans alongside Andretti as the years goes by.
It’s going to be a difficult couple of months but let’s hope Andretti will finally be accepted before taking their next steps towards producing their first Formula 1 car at the earliest given time possible.
