Over the last few weeks, Andretti potentially joining F1 has been all over the news. US motorsport legend Michael Andretti did not hide the fact that he wanted a team in F1 for a long time and tried to find his way in by purchasing Sauber last year.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out for him, and having just his own name in the sport was not seen as lucrative by the decision-makers in F1. They asked Andretti to secure a partnership with a major manufacturer, and fast forward to 2023, and they have found one. They approached General Motors, and Andretti will be partnering up with their luxury brand Cadillac.
However, now the bigger teams in F1 are skeptical about having the Andretti-Cadillac team on the grid. This is because they are unsure about the returns they’ll bring in. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff publicly admitted that he doesn’t want his own profit to be eaten up by a new team.
Andretti has to pay at least $500 million to enter F1 in 2026
It seems that Michael Andretti has done everything possible to make his dream of owning an F1 team true. He got a huge company to partner up with him, and it is widely reported that Renault will help them in the powertrains department.
Despite that, doubts regarding financial returns are the only thing that is preventing the bigger teams from being okay with the new entry. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem admitted that he is surprised about the backlash surrounding their potential entry into the sport. He also added that he is disappointed.
“It is surprising that there has been some adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti Global news,” Ben Sulayem wrote on Twitter. “We should be encouraging prospective entries from global manufacturers. Like GM and thoroughbred racers like Andretti and others.”
According to the BBC, Andretti and Cadillac need to put together a sum of more than $500 million/$600 million if they want to get entry into the sport. This is a huge amount that they have to pay if they want to be in F1 by 2026.
