Formula 1 finds itself under the spotlight of the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The investigation was triggered by Liberty Media’s decision to deny Andretti Global’s bid to join the F1 grid as an 11th team. For now, F1 can breathe easily, but according to journalists, the relief might not last long.
Scott Mitchell-Malm from ‘The Race’ discussed the situation on their recent podcast. He noted that although the investigation is officially underway, it might not be a top priority for U.S. authorities at the moment.
“I’m not entirely sure F1 considers that a massive priority or concern at the moment because there are bigger political issues going on in the US that have various departments’ attention,” Mitchell-Malm said. However, he warned that this situation might not last long, suggesting that the issue will move up the priority list “sooner or later”.
NEW: Twelve members of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to Formula 1 owner Liberty Media, demanding answers for excluding Andretti Global from the sport.
They invoked the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and sought answers regarding the rationale for rejecting Andretti… pic.twitter.com/PawwZzyiCs
— F1 News (@octagram_f1) May 1, 2024
According to Scott, the longer Andretti waits, the more pressure they apply on F1, hoping that political pressure will eventually force Liberty Media to reconsider. “It might be a little bit of who blinks first,” Scott remarked.
The conversation also steered towards the topic of Andretti deciding not to buy the Enstone-based Alpine team and whether they might regret this decision, especially if the French outfit sells to another interested party like Hitech GP.
Andretti remains firm in its pursuit to become the 11th Formula 1 team
Edd Straw weighed in on the matter, stating that Andretti was right to avoid buying Alpine despite it being an easier entry path into Formula 1. “They do not want Alpine because it’s just a negative to their efforts,” Straw explained. He pointed out that Andretti is fully committed to establishing their own team from scratch.
Straw also highlighted the economic challenge of such a purchase. He stated that moving the entire operation of the Alpine team to the United States would have been costly. What’s worse is that the competitive market for buying an F1 team could have initiated a price war, thereby driving costs even higher.
Pierre Gasly says Andretti Racing is welcome to join F1 but Alpine isn’t for sale and the ambition is to make it to the “top of Formula 1” https://t.co/BySlVKi5Ty pic.twitter.com/iZ4NakonAE
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) July 3, 2024
“If you’ve got five, ten, or fifteen entities floating around interested, and there are a lot of them, some of them won’t be able to pull it off, some of them will. Then the price gets pushed up and up and up and actually, it’s a seller’s market for Formula 1 teams now.” Straw noted.
