Since the popularity of the sport is growing rapidly, F1 is eager to add more teams. The application of Andretti Global has recently received FIA’s approval. To emphasize the point, only the Andretti team was chosen out of the four candidates since none of the other teams met the requirements. Moreover, in order to secure their entrance in 2026, the American team is prepared to pay a total sum of $200,000,000 to 10 teams as an anti-dilution fee. Despite this, Aston Martin‘s owner, Lawrence Stroll, remains strongly opposed to the eleventh team’s membership as per Sky Sports F1 Twitter.
The $200 million entry price was intended to make up for the simple fact that teams would have to split prize money in the future with another competitor. However, given that Alpine recently sold shares for over $900 million, the price is now considered low. The constructors now will probably request that F1 demand a larger entry price before allowing any new competitors.
Lawrence Stroll appears to have entered the lineup following Christian Horner and Toto Wolff’s stance on not letting the 11th team enter the scene. When the news of Andretti’s participation first broke earlier in July, Toto Wolff argued that anyone who wants to join the party must purchase an existing team, while Christian Horner simply asked, “Who is going to pay for it?”
Lawrence Stroll offers his perspective on Andretti’s F1 entry
The Billionaire has already committed hundreds of millions to the squad to help it reach new heights. This includes investing $250 million in building a new base in Silverstone and constructing a new wind tunnel. Now that he has poured his heart and soul into building the team’s foundation, the 64-year-old doesn’t want to devise plans to take down an additional team.
For the exact same reason, he didn’t find Andretti’s desire to be the 11th constructor to be impressive. Stroll was heard giving his thoughts on the subject in a video uploaded by Sky Sports F1.
“If it ain’t broke, you don’t need to fix it” 🔧
Lawrence Stroll believes that things are working ‘really well’ with 10 teams on the grid and that it should stay that way 👇 pic.twitter.com/vy9qOTOjC5
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 5, 2023
He said, ” I think F1 at the moment, the business is on fire. The sports have never been in a better place and I believe if it ain’t broke you don’t need to fix it. So I was a strong believer that it’s working really well with ten teams right now. I believe that’s the way it should stay.” However, it doesn’t appear like Andretti has given any thought to any team’s viewpoint, as with a substantial investment, the team opened their store months ago.
Andretti has already invested $100,000 in establishing its F1 shop
Although the FIA has approved Andretti’s entry, the decision still needs to pass through a number of levels. The American team needs to hear FOM’s final opinion. However, the team had no concerns as the Andretti family had already invested substantially in building up its F1 shop, even before the team received the FIA’s approval.
Team Andretti already spent over $100 million!! 😳
Credit: Business F1. pic.twitter.com/JPzTdGuYQC
— TheF1Guy (@Sabyasaachii) October 4, 2023
According to Business F1, in order to be chosen as the 11th Formula One team, two of the four teams, Andretti and Hitech GP, each put up a $100 million F1 shop. The report claimed, “ The Andretti-Cadillac and Hitech GP teams have both spent over $100 million getting ready to enter and were firm favorites to be granted an entry.“
Though the fate of Andretti now lands in the hands of FOM, David Croft has seemed to offer his opinion. Croft claims that since the teams signed Concorde agreements two years ago, the sports have experienced exponential growth. So the $200 million dilution level won’t be enough as the teams might now expect a threefold increase in funding, i.e. $600,000,000.
To avoid the F1 community digging deep into their pockets, Andretti will therefore hope that FOM accepts their proposal as soon as possible.
