F1 is staring down the barrel of an anti-trust investigation against them by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) about their rejection of Andretti’s F1 entry bid. F1 owners Liberty Media know about this and are ready to cooperate with the DOJ when the investigation starts. However, past precedent of such anti-trust lawsuits even against multi-national giants like Microsoft should caution Liberty Media of the seriousness of this probe.
Motorsport journalist Stuart Codling recalled the DOJ’s crackdown on Microsoft on the Autosport F1 podcast. He highlighted that the DOJ often makes strong examples of monopolies and cartels affecting American companies or people.
Given that Formula One Management (FOM) is also facing similar allegations of blocking Andretti‘s entry to F1 to protect the interests of existing teams, the DOJ will look to take serious action, as per Codling.
“I think the most landmark win they had in the past quarter century was against Microsoft. Microsoft was trying to make Internet Explorer the standard browser. They had their legs cut off below the knees”, he said.
For now, Liberty Media can breathe easy as the investigation is yet to begin. However, Codling said that the DOJ’s history of being “very serious” in matters regarding monopolies and cartels could have trouble in store for FOM concerning their rejection of Andretti.
The escalation of the Andretti saga
A few months after the FOM rejected Andretti’s bid to enter F1, a few US Congress senators wrote to Liberty Media to get more clarity about their decision. They also raised that FOM and Liberty Media could be in breach of US anti-trust laws around the time of the Miami GP in May.
Jim Jordan, who is the Chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter, “The excuses put forward for denying Andretti Cadillac’s entry appear to be pretextual, arbitrary, and unrelated to Andretti Cadillac’s suitability to compete in Formula 1.”
Cut to August 2024, after several reports of the DOJ opening up an official investigation into the matter, the situation has escalated. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has ensured that they are not against new entrants and will also cooperate with the anti-trust probe around Andretti.
Maffei stated that they are complying with all the US anti-trust laws and also seem confident about providing valid reasoning for their rejection of Andretti.
