Formula One has rejected Andretti Global's bid to join the F1 grid. The sport announced the decision on Wednesday, Jan. 31, months after the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) accepted Andretti's entry to become Formula 1's 11th team beginning in 2025.
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Andretti Global's proposed to initially join F1 in 2025 using power units supplied by Renault through 2027 and then rebranding as Andretti-Cadillac with power units supplied by General Motors but from the very beginning, Andretti faced a steep uphill battle to gain the confidence of Liberty Media, owner of the sport's commercial rights holder, Formula One Management, and from most of the 10 existing F1 teams.
"Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, in and of itself, provide value to the Championship," F1 said in a statement. "Any 11th team should show that its participation and involvement would bring a benefit to the Championship. The most significant way in which a new entrant would bring value is by being competitive, in particular by competing for podiums and race wins. This would materially increase fan engagement and would also increase the value of the Championship in the eyes of key stakeholders and sources of revenue such as broadcasters and race promoters."
In its statement, F1 noted the difficulty of a new team being competitive in the sport and then cited additional obstacles facing Andretti's proposed entry, which would include designing a car for the 2025 season and then designing a completely new car to meet new regulations coming to the sport in 2026.
"We do not believe that there is a basis for any new applicant to be admitted in 2025 given that this would involve a novice entrant building two completely different cars in its first two years of existence," F1 continues in its statement. "The fact that the applicant proposes to do so gives us reason to question their understanding of the scope of the challenge involved."
While F1 rejected Andretti Global's bid for now, it has kept the door open for reconsideration in 2028 coinciding with General Motors' timeline for its power unit to be ready for competition.
"We would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 Championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team designing all allowable components in-house" F1 concludes in its statement. "In this case there would be additional factors to consider in respect of the value that the Applicant would bring to the Championship, in particular in respect of bringing a prestigious new OEM to the sport as a PU supplier."
While the door remains open for an eventual Andretti team in F1, the big question now is will Michael Andretti, the organization's chairman and CEO, even consider moving forward. He attempted to buy an existing F1 team but failed. After being told that bringing an additional OEM to the sport would strengthen his bid to join F1, he partnered with General Motors but now Formula One insists even that's not good enough. While there has yet to be any official statement from Andretti Global concerning its failed bid, one wonders if it will ever present a proposal good enough for the sport and its teams to accept.
