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FIA has approved the Andretti-Cadillac bid, but hurdles remain
Formula 1’s governing body has taken a step towards increasing the grid to 11 teams, having approved the bid submitted by the prospective Andretti-Cadillac team. But what are the next steps for the process, and how quickly might we see an 11th team on the grid?
Earlier this year the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), F1’s governing body, invited bids from prospective teams seeking entry into the sport. After a two-stage process, FIA announced at the start of October that just one team — the prospective Andretti-Cadillac partnership — was approved.
Now the prospective team faces what is likely the toughest hurdle in the process: Approval by Formula One Management (FOM), which involves commercial rights and the input of the current ten teams on the grid.
As we saw ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, some of the teams currently on the grid — such as Ferrari and Williams — remain opposed to the addition of an 11th team. Williams Team Principal James Vowles spoke at length ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix about the financial implications of adding a new team, while his counterpart at Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur, wondered what the value would be in adding Andretti-Cadillac.
Vasseur even pushed back on the notion of an All-American team, noting that Haas is primarily an American outfit.
These two are not alone. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has spoken in the past regarding expansion, coming out largely against the addition of an 11th team. Two other big players in this conversation, F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media chairman Greg Maffei, have also been lukewarm regarding expansion.
Another concern comes largely along financial lines, speaking to what Vowles addressed in Qatar. Under the terms of the Concorde Agreement — agreed to in 2020 and in place from 2021 through 2026 — there is room to expand by two teams. However, a new team would have to pay a $200 million “anti-dilution fee,” which would be split by the ten teams on the grid.
The problem, as some teams see it?
The success of F1 in recent years.
For example, for the 2019 season F1 saw revenues of $2.02 billion, a number which dipped to $1.15 billion in 2020 as the world dealt with COVID-19. That year the sport ran a shortened schedule, with just 17 races instead of the 22 races that were originally on the schedule.
However, during COVID many new fans were introduced to the sport as they binge-watched the Netflix series Drive to Survive, which was introduced during 2019. As the world — and F1 — roared back to life in 2021 revenue for F1 jumped to $2.14 billion.
That number jumped to $2.57 for the 2021 season.
Now as you might expect, the ten teams currently on the grid, who helped contribute to that jump, want a bigger piece of the pie.
Then there is another issue which has cropped up since the Andretti-Cadillac bid moved to this next stage. When the partnership was announced, it was outlined as a “semi-works” team. Eventually Andretti-Cadillac will be a full “works” team, as Cadillac will be supplying the power units in-house. However, the plan was for Andretti-Cadillac to begin as a “customer” team, acquiring their power units from another manufacturer.
Alpine was slated to be that supplier, but news broke on Thursday that a pre-contract agreement between the two parties had expired, and from Alpine’s perspective, there is not much of an incentive to renew the agreement. New Alpine Team Principal Bruno Famin told German publication Auto Motor und Sport: “It is true that this preliminary contract with Andretti has expired. It was concluded on the basis that Andretti would get his license earlier.We will not resume discussions until the review process has been completed with a positive result.”
Famin added: “In principle, we have nothing against an eleventh team if it turns out that it increases the value of the sport. But it is not our job to judge that. We follow the regulations, whether it is the sporting regulations or the Concorde agreement.”
Now, it is possible that Famin’s position is more of a negotiation tactic than anything else. But it is also possible that Alpine, given their own issues this season, is looking to fix their own operation before supplying power units to others.
There is also a possibility that the FIA could force Alpine’s hand. As noted by PlanetF1 in this piece, under the current F1 Sporting Regulations there is a provision where the sport’s governing body could request that a current works team with the fewest customers provide a new — customer — team with power units.
As Alpine only supplies themselves, they could be on the hook in such a situation. Especially if Michael Andretti’s vision of making it to the grid for the 2025 season is realized.
But it is possible that Andretti will need to look elsewhere, and there is an option for them. At the time of their announcement in January, Mark Reuss, President of General Motors, noted that the team did have an agreement in place with a current engine supplier. While we now know that was Alpine, many believed it was Honda.
Honda has been supplying power units to Red Bull, but with that team moving their operation in house for the 2026 season, Honda has found a new partner in Aston Martin.
They could be the supplier for Andretti-Cadillac until their own operation is up to speed.
Honda was discussed during the Andretti-Cadillac announcement in January. “On the EV part of it, obviously we do have a large partnership with Honda. We also compete against Honda in series like IndyCar as well,” said Reuss at the time. “So we have that natural respect and relationship, which is not problematic at all. We’ll talk about the engine piece of this at a later date.”
Of course, this all hinges on the next step in the process, which is approval from the FOM.
Which is still the biggest hurdle to date.
