Is F1 INTIMIDATED by Andretti Cadillac?

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. It’s where the best of the best have come since 1950 to duke it out every year in order to determine who among them deserves the highest honour in racing.

Drivers and teams from all across the globe have come and gone from the sport over its 70 plus years of history so far. You’ve seen teams such as Ferrari join at the very start and achieve almost unrivalled levels of success, whilst also enduring some tough periods. Other teams have been born from the minds of ordinary individuals who just wanted to go racing and have been transformed into icons that are known around the world. That’s how we came to have McLaren and Williams. Some teams have not been so lucky, both big and small, such as Toyota, BMW, Lotus, Ligier, Arrow and Larrouse amongst them. The reasons they didn’t succeed vary but each one added something unique to the rich tapestry of Formula One history – and most importantly of all, they were allowed to try. They were welcomed into the sport as they endeavoured to make their dreams a reality. Crucially too, these teams were the starting points for many of the memorable names in Formula 1 that we know today. Keke Rosberg began his career at Theodore and Fernando Alonso started out with Minardi for example. If these small teams hadn’t taken a chance on these drivers, there’s a distinct possibility that we may never have seen them in Formula One.

The point is that every team that has existed in Formula One has contributed something that has benefitted the sport, be it large or small.

When looking at F1 today, it’s clear to see what every team has brought to the table. Mercedes would not have returned to F1 were it not for Brawn GP and their fairytale year in 2009, which itself came off the back of a calamitous year previously for Honda. Since then, the German outfit has established itself as one of the most formidable teams in history. Red Bull took over from Jaguar and built a small team into a mighty force to be reckoned with, proving that David really can take on Goliath – and not just win, but dominate. On the other end of the scale, Toro Rosso (I’m not indulging their new name for 2024 so I’m reverting back to what we’re all going to call them anyway) has been a great proving ground for young up and coming talent. Sauber was Charles Leclerc’s home before he moved to Ferrari and Haas have shown sparks of brilliant potential since they entered the sport back in 2016; pole position in Brazil in 2022 being chief amongst those. The latter sent the fans and other teams alike into a wild frenzy of celebration because it was just so fantastic to see the underdog succeed.

None of the above has been easy and it has all taken time. But, again, most importantly, they have all been allowed to try. Fans don’t want to see the same small handful of teams winning all of the time, only to be swapped around occasionally and for that to be heralded as a major turnaround. They want to see the fight taken to them by teams lower down the order who have either lost their way or are attempting to build something special of their own. That’s why McLaren’s and Williams’ respective resurgences have been so popular and why Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso was such a highlight for many in 2023.

All of this makes Formula One’s recent rejection of Andretti Cadillac all the more upsetting and worrying.

Andretti is a powerhouse in the world of motorsport, having competed in a vast multitude of disciplines over the years and is run by the father and son duo of Mario and Michael Andretti – as well as a few others – with both having been racing drivers themselves who know the world of racing inside out. Mario himself was a Formula 1 driver from 1968 until 1982, becoming World Champion in 1978. He also won the Indy 500 in 1969 and this is something that Andretti themselves as an outfit have won six times – most recently in 2017.

Image: Joe Skibinski and Karl Zemlin

Other highlights include winning the CART Championship back in 1995, the IndyCar Series Championship four times, the Indy Lights/NXT Championship five times, the USF 2000 Championship once, the American Rallycross Championship twice, the Global Rallycross Championship three times and last year, they won their first Formula E World Championship with their British Driver Jake Dennis. Aside from this, Andretti Global also compete in Extreme E (where they won a race in their first year and have been on the podium every year since), IMSA and the Australian Supercars Championship. It’s fair to say that this isn’t a bad little legacy to have.

Cadillac, meanwhile, is an organization that has been around since 1902 and is embedded in American history. It’s part of the American Dream and recognized instantaneously worldwide. As part of General Motors (GM), it frequently vies for the top spot of automobile fame. Even if we took its starting point as 1909 when GM acquired it, it would still have been forty-one years old by the time Formula 1 first came into being, perfectly demonstrating its prestige and value for all to see. Moreover, Cadillac built a hypercar from scratch for the first time for the 2023 IMSA Season and won the Championship. They also won the Manufacturers Championship in IMSA back in 2021. They are not just an American car manufacturer – they’re the real deal and for them to have teamed up with Andretti in order to enter Formula One is a sign that both sides are taking this seriously and have everything they need to give taking on the pinnacle of motorsport their best shot – something which is amplified by Formula One’s recent surge in popularity in the United States – thanks in part to Drive to Survive, the existent of three Grand Prix on the calendar, Miami, Austin and Las Vegas and the recent addition of Logan Sargeant to the grid – America’s F1 driver in quite some time.

Image: Andretti United Extreme E

So, for Formula One to come out and reject Andretti Cadillac and say that they believe that they would not add value to Formula One is so laughably ridiculous that it’s concerning.

If we looked at every team currently on the grid in Formula One and reverted each of them back to the state that they were in in their first year joining the sport and ‘scrutinized’ them in the same way that Andretti Cadillac have been, aside from Ferrari and Mercedes, I can’t see any of the other teams being allowed into the sport either. McLaren and Aston Martin maybe stand a chance – but it’s difficult to see how if Andretti Cadillac don’t. However, Red Bull as a drinks company wouldn’t be allowed, Williams would be turned away, Toro Rosso and Alpine would be rejected for not being large enough and Stake and Haas would be laughed out of the building.

“Andretti Cadillac has reviewed the information Formula One Management Limited has shared and strongly disagree with its contents. Andretti and Cadillac are two successful global motorsport organizations committed to placing a genuine American works team in F1, competing alongside the world’s best. We are proud of the significant progress we have already made on developing a highly competitive car and power unit with an experienced team behind it, and our work continues at pace. Andretti Cadillac would also like to acknowledge and thank the fans who have expressed their support.” – Andretti Cadillac.

Image: Indianapolis 500

Let’s take a look at some of the other reasons that Formula One has based its rejection of Andretti Cadillac upon.

(I) “Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, in and of itself, provide value to the Championship.”

In an era heralded as a new dawn with closer racing and more unexpected results than ever before, we have seen an unrivalled level of domination from Red Bull that makes McLaren’s efforts in 1989 pale in comparison. How an eleventh team (especially one as potentially strong as Andretti Cadillac) could not add value to the Championship is to use the same logic that 2 + 2 = 5. As shown above, Andretti have proven to be competitive in all of their endeavours – if not immediately, then in time with great levels of success. The same goes for Cadillac.

(II) “Any 11th team should show that its participation and involvement would bring benefit to the Championship. The most significant way in which a new team would bring value is by being competitive, in particular by competing for podiums and race wins.”

F1 argues that a new team should show value by being competitive, e.g. through competing for podiums and wins. If that is how value is measured, why are Stake F1 and Haas still on the grid? The latter have never won a race or finished on the podium and the last time Stake F1 got on the Podium, they were still called Sauber and it was in Japan back in 2012 – twelve years ago! Yet the fans still engage with them, are big supporters of the drivers and they help bring in parts of the audience to Formula One – without which there wouldn’t be a sport. This is the same fan engagement that F1 also says “would increase the value of the Championship in the eyes of the stakeholders and sources of revenue such as broadcasters and race promoters.” To genuinely believe that a team such as Andretti Cadillac with its globally recognized branding and history of success in other racing series wouldn’t add more value in every sense of the word to the Championship is to simply ignore the obvious.

Image: Alastair Staley/LAT Images

This article shall not make a rebuttal for every single point that F1 has made in their rejection, (as cathartic as that might be) but a few other points are worth making.

F1 claims that “our research (of fans) indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around.” But in stating this, they did not quote or publish any of these results, so we have no way of knowing the data, how many people they actually asked and where they were from to be able to accurately draw this conclusion, how the questions were asked, etc. It also implies that it is only acceptable for Andretti to bring value to F1 and not the other way around, meaning that Andretti should not be allowed to benefit from entering and competing in Formula One – something that does not sit right on any level.

Furthermore, F1 says that “The addition of an 11th team would place an operational burden on promoters…” This essentially says that an 11th team will take money away from them and make their jobs slightly more difficult. Additional revenue streams brought into F1 by Andretti Cadillac’s presence would cover that and would also encourage entrepreneurship on the promoter’s behalf, etc. Formula One prides itself on innovation for all doesn’t it? So why would this be a problem?

Lastly, over numerous points, Formula One says that “the need for any new team to take a compulsory power unit supply…would be damaging to the prestige and standing of the Championship.” But it does not elaborate to say how this would be the case or why it is acceptable for other teams currently on the grid to have this privilege and for that not to be damaging to the Championship.

Image: James Black

F1 also believes that “GM have the resources and credibility to be more than capable of attempting this challenge (creating a new PU), but success is not assured.” The message here comes across as even if you’re capable of doing something, you still might fail so don’t even bother trying. This is perhaps its most damaging statement as it spits in the face of everyone involved in Formula 1, from the drivers to all those working back at the factory and everyone beyond that who dream of working in the world of motorsport. Why ever attempt anything in life in case it is too difficult? If every team just assumed Red Bull were going to win every single race this year, then why should any of them bother turning up? Why should the fans pay to attend or watch from home?

All of these points made by Formula One can be easily dismantled and that’s before we even get to the easy return shots that Andretti Cadillac themselves have already taken, e.g. the statement made by Andretti Cadillac after F1 accused them of not fully understanding the scope of the challenge of building a car for 2025 and a new one with new regs for 2026.

“When Andretti Cadillac entered the FIA expression of interest process almost a year ago, the preferred first year of participation was indicated as 2025. The FIA approved our application, with no specific limitation on whether the entry was for 2025 or 2026. Andretti Cadillac has been operating with 2026 as the year of entry for many months now. The technicality of 2025 still being part of the application is a result of the length of this process.” – Andretti Cadillac.

The bottom line here is that Formula One has lost its way. It used to stand for innovation, for risk taking, for boldness – it has earned its title as the pinnacle of motorsport. But it is clear from their rejection of Andretti Cadillac and their flimsy reasons for doing so that those in charge are now just interested in their own agendas and not what would actually benefit the sport. They keep messing with race formats that nobody asked for in the first place (looking at you Sprint Races), adding street circuits that the fans repeatedly have said they don’t want and putting an operational burden on all of the Formula One teams by continuing to lengthen the calendar with very little in way of helping teams and individuals cope with this.

Their rejection of one of the most lucrative and exciting partnerships in motorsport history proves this and begs two questions. Is Formula One intimidated by Andretti Cadillac? And if Andretti Cadillac cannot get into Formula One, then who can?

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly