Literally none of them make sense. They can’t say “we don’t want an 11th team” as an argument so they make up stuff which doesn’t stand if you look at it for one second.
As an American who just got into f1, they are giving idiots if they think andretti wouldn’t pull in more American motor heads.
I wasn’t really even into racing growing up and andretti was a household name. It’s just American canon. He’d absolutely, without a doubt, just by his name, give them a boost in the American market.
What’s the real reason? I haven’t been following the drama too closely.
The real reason is that with just ten teams, every team has a lot of inherent market value. A team like Haas can make a lot of money just by being on the grid — from a financial perspective it’s no issue that they l come in last.
But with extra teams, the prize money has to be split among more participants, the supply of ad space increases, and the value of already having a slot drops. Sauber was worth a lot to Audi because they were allowed to compete — if new teams can show up, the existing teams aren’t worth as much, which is bad for shareholders.
It’s all about money and it’s awful for the sport. It’s no wonder that the FIA already granted approval and it’s the FOM who are objecting.
What? There is a huge financial incentive to do well. 2023 had a prize pot of $2.2 billion to be split amongst the points holders.
Haas just fired their Team Principal for that reason. They dumped Schumacher after 2022 for the same reason.
Teams need to win to secure sponsorships and get a cut of the prize money.
Andretti-Cadillac was rejected, and this is 100% percent factual, because they did not attend a required face-to-face with the FOM because the scheduling email went to spam.
Andretti confirmed this a few days ago.
2025 development was also cited, but a face-to-face meeting would’ve probably assuaged those fears.
It’s in the article:
I’m not saying there’s no incentive to perform well, I’m saying that’s it’s not too big an issue to come in last. At least financially speaking.
A quick search shows Haas made $60 million in prize money last year, while Sauber (AR) made $69 million. How much more does a team need to invest to climb up a place? If it’s more than $9 million, it’s not necessarily worth it for the lower teams.
So for the shareholders it becomes a question of whether investing is worth it. If the team is already making a profit under the cost cap, and the value of the team increases because supply is limited and the likes of Audi and Ford want to enter — is it really worth investing more?
But all of that is beside the point, because for the shareholders there’s one thing they surely don’t want: an extra competitor. All of a sudden you could come in 11th, decreasing the prize money you get for just showing up. And when you decide to sell the team, it’s worth less because the supply has increased.
We’ve wound up in a situation where the teams can decide against whom they want to compete. And commercial interests directly clash with fair, open competition. The email to spam is a bullshit story — if the FOM had wanted to make it work, they could’ve picked up the phone. It’s not like megadeals like this depend on one specific calendar invite.
The meeting was to discuss the rejection and if they couldn’t be bothered to reach out twice to confirm, they didnt want it to happen. Absolute joke if you believe its only bc of a missed email.
I apply for a job at a company that isn’t really hiring. I’ve got some bona fides (my dad worked there back in the day) so they send me a message to come interview. I ghost them. Do they chase me down or just say “fuck it, they’re not serious and we’re full anyway”?
Or both sides are telling the same lie about a weird fuckup for reasons.
Just go read the article.
Lol, ok your right its just like you finding a job. Oh wait, it’s not.
i’m american and i’m not sure i agree with you. i’m sure there would be a marginal gain, but nothing compared to the explosion since drive to survive. teams just want to keep their slice of that enormous pie as it currently is.
Seriously. I remember as a kid my dad took me to an IMAX film about the history of Indy Car. Mario was the narrator and presenter. I didn’t watch racing at the time, my dad didn’t watch racing. But we were both enamored by the film. I still remember some of that film some 30 years ago. And I will always remember the name Andretti
Who knows what the real reason is. Maybe they really believe they can pull the American audience with 3 races instead of Andretti. But it could also be they don’t want the extra competition, they enjoy their little elite club and they want to keep it that way.
they are ALREADY pulling the american audience. That’s why there are 3 races instead of 0 as it used to be.
Netflix did it, they don’t need andretti.
Many things could be told. The first thing to bear in mind is that Formula One Management is known as the ‘Piranha Club’.
