PARIS.- The candidacy of the North American Andretti Formula Racing team to become the eleventh team in the World Championship Formula 1 from 2025 or 2026 was rejected, as announced this Wednesday by the organizer of the championship.
This decision comes despite the fact that the International Automobile Federation (FIA) gave its approval to Andretti’s arrival to the F1 paddock in October last year, although it was subordinated to what was finally decided by Liberty Media, the company that owns the rights to F1, who had already announced that it was going to make his “own evaluation” of the candidacy.
“Our evaluation process has determined that the presence of an eleventh team would not provide any added value to the championship,” F1 justified in a statement.
“The best way for a new team to provide added value would be for it to be competitive. We do not believe that the candidate is a competitive participant,” added the World Cup organizer of the category in the bulletin.
Andretti had announced an agreement with General Motors to supply Cadillac engines to the new team, but this was not enough to convince the F1 organizers either.
Formula 1 is still an option:
Despite everything, the door has not closed definitively for the team that has a name closely linked to motorsports and is managed by Michael Andretti, former F1 driver, and his son Mario Andretti, world champion of the discipline in 1978.
Most of the teams participating in F1 were opposed to the arrival of Andretti, since it meant another team to distribute the succulent income of the championship and they considered that the 200 million dollars of participation rights in the championship by the new team was insufficient compensation.
Formula 1 continues in the midst of its preparation for the start of a new season in the coming weeks.
Source: AFP
