Andretti was one of the three teams that had recently shown an interest in joining the F1 grid. However, among the three, they were the only side that received the green light from the FIA to join. One of the teams who lost to Andretti with a $500,000 bid has now lashed out. David Dicker, the owner of Rodin Cars, is furious that the FIA did not accept his team’s bid to join the grid.
Rodin Cars is a popular team in the lower categories of Formula Racing and some popular drivers such as Liam Lawson, have driven for them. Since the team from New Zealand already has links to Formula Racing, Dicker recently gave an interview to Chris Medland of motorsportmagazine.com revealing he is “pissed off” to have his bid rejected.
Liam’s journey to F1 encompasses everything we stand for here at Rodin Cars and that is “NO LIMITS”.
From his very first visit in 2018 till now, we’ve loved being a part of his motorsport journey and sharing his successes. We are with you all the way @LiamLawson30 🙌🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/M6V5TpE6Z3
— Rodin Cars (@RodinCars) September 27, 2023
“I’m pretty p**sed off about not getting into Formula 1, so I’m not just going to go away and sulk. That’s just the way I am. I mean, you want to do things, and that’s what life’s about. You just try to do them. And if you can’t do it one way, then look for another way or other ways of doing things,” explained Dicker.
Dicker explains his concerns with Andretti receiving FIA’s approval
In the same interview with Chris Medland, David Dicker also explained his concerns with Andretti receiving the FIA’s approval to join the grid despite putting in a worse bid than his side. The Rodin Cars owner explained that he does not see how the American outfit is capable of achieving F1’s mission to provide “diversity.”
Dicker stated, “I don’t see how Andretti is going to add anything to F1, because it’s just going to be another team based in the UK, like all the other teams except for Ferrari and Sauber and Toro (AlphaTauri). And so where’s the real addition?
He then went on to add that since GM has a “pretty awful record of just pulling out of things if they feel like it,” he does not accept it as a great addition. Dicker’s rant just did not end there, as he also went on to criticize how F1 is not a world championship. “You want to call it a world championship, but they don’t have a single team in the southern hemisphere,” he added.
“And really, all they’ve actually got is almost all the teams are in the UK and a couple of teams in Western Europe. Is that really a world championship?” He then ended his remarks by stating that he always knew that the FIA would reject his bid to get Rodin Cars into F1.
Dicker always knew that the FIA will reject his bid to enter F1
During the same interview, David Dicker concluded his remarks by explaining how he always knew that the FIA would only accept Andretti’s bid to enter F1 even though Rodin Cars’ bid was better than theirs. Since the FIA rejected his bid as expected, he once again expressed his disappointment.
Rodin Cars had something unique to offer to F1 as they had reserved a seat for three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick. As quoted by the-race.com, Dicker said, “If she was available, we would have no hesitation in putting her in a seat.” This would be a historic move as there have barely been any female drivers who have competed in F1.
