Last week, Andretti Global announced its intention to enter a Formula One entry with Cadillac parent company General Motors and the marque’s luxury motorsports division, Cadillac Racing. However, this news met with a somewhat negative response within the sport, surprising the president of F1’s governing body, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
According to a Reuters reportBen Sulayem said he was shocked by the “adverse reaction” to news that Cadillac Racing and Andretti Global were pursuing F1 entries.
“The FIA has received entries from smaller and successful organizations [sic] in recent years,” he wrote on social media. “We have to encourage potential F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and thoroughbreds like Andretti and others. The interest from teams in emerging markets adds to the diversity and broadens the appeal of F1.”
If Cadillac Racing and Andretti are successful in their bid to race in F1, they will become sport 11th team. The prospect of expanding the competitor’s field seems to be the crux of the negative reaction. F1’s chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, said he felt bringing in more than 10 teams was not a priority for the sport. Additionally, a senior team figure revealed that the majority of F1 teams expressed concern that the potential network expansion would further strain revenue sharing.
“The value of Formula One is a limited number of franchises and we don’t want to undercut that value just by adding more teams,” said Toto Wolff, Mercedes team boss, at the 2022 race event.
Cadillac Racing and Andretti Global are currently in the process of presenting an Expression of Interest, detailing their plans to add Caddy drivers to the F1 grid. Ben Sulayem indicated that the FIA is reviewing the process that could qualify Cadillac for F1 competition in 2026.
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