mobile app bar

“There’s a Lot at Stake”: Andretti Threatens F1 of Major American Loss, Counters With Mega Promise in Return

Srijon Jana
Published

“There’s a Lot at Stake”: Andretti Threatens F1 of Major American Loss, Counters With Mega Promise in Return

Formula 1 has finally managed to break into the US market in the last few years. Traditionally a European sport, F1 has tried to capture the American market for quite some time without much success. Recently, however, the sport has gained a lot of popularity throughout the United States.

Much of this popularity can be attributed to the Netflix series Drive to Survive. The web series introduced a lot of new fans to the ins and outs of the world of Formula 1. It presented the sport to the fans in a way that was easy to learn and accept.

This resulted in a huge increase in the following of Formula 1. This is quite evident in the fact that the 2022 edition of the United States Grand Prix had 440 thousand fans in attendance, the most number of people to have attended a Formula 1 race on US soil.

The Formula 1 figureheads  have taken advantage of this rise in popularity. I introduced the Miami Grand Prix last year and Formula 1 will also travel to Las Vegas this year. This makes it a total of three races in the US itself.

Andretti wants to introduce an American team on the F1 grid

The Andretti family, a powerhouse in the field of Motorsports in America, have already expressed their desire of fielding a team in Formula 1. They have already tied up with General Motors via a deal with Cadillac and have started talks with Formula One Management. It is expected that F1 will complete the receipt of applications for new F1 teams within this week.

Mario Andretti, the father of Michael Andretti, has made it very clear that it will benefit Formula 1 if they have an American team on the grid. “Let’s face it, as international as Formula 1 is, to have a really strong American team and manufacturer, that must be good for it,” said Mario.

He explained that even though Gene Haas has a team on the grid, it lacks in essence since there are no American drivers. Michael, on the other hand, has promised that he would always have an American driver on the team. “There’s a lot at stake. It’s a huge long-term commitment that we submitted and I won’t understand it being rejected,” explained Mario Andretti.

Current Formula 1 teams are not really on board with the idea

Even though Andretti Autosport has floated around the idea of them joining the grid for a long time, not all the current F1 teams support the idea. This is because if a new team joins the grid, it would dilute the value of the revenue that the other teams receive.

Even though Formula 1 has mandated that any new team entering the grid would have to pay an expansion fee of 200 million dollars. Most of the current Formula 1 teams believe that it is too low for the amount of revenue and fans that they would be losing out on.

About the author

Srijon Jana

Srijon Jana

instagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Srijon Jana is a Formula 1 writer at The SportsRush. As a medical undergrad with a passion for motorsports, Srijon loves juggling between cadavers and cars with ease. He started watching F1 when he was only 11, and the beautiful cars grabbed his interest. Even now, he religiously follows all the Grands Prix, and when he is not gushing over Charles Leclerc, he likes to dabble in football as well. He is a college quizzer with several state-level and national-level accolades. He is a proud Ferrari fan, and loves to pass his free time reading, watching movies, and spending some quality time with his friends and family.

Share this article