Ted Kravitz shares concerning Andretti view in ‘fighting’ talk update
Andretti Autosport and Cadillac have cleared the first hurdle into F1, but the next challenge is convincing the teams and FOM.
Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz has said Andretti and Cadillac are going to have to “fight” and “play the political game” to reach F1 as “all of the signs are that they’re not going to get an agreement”.
Andretti cleared the first hurdle to F1 entry by receiving FIA approval to their bid recently, but talks will now advance to Formula One Management [FOM] over commercial concerns, where the current teams will also be able to weigh in.
Multiple current team principals have voiced their opposition to expanding the grid, with Williams team boss James Vowles proving particularly vocal on the subject – reasoning that he wants every team to be financially stable before the grid expands, with Williams and others currently operating at an annual loss.
Andretti told to ‘make it happen for themselves’ in reaching Formula 1
The Andretti-Cadillac bid was the only one of the several approaches received by the FIA to reach the required standards to get onto the Formula 1 grid in future, following an Expressions of Interest process announced by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at the start of the year.
But current team bosses have expressed multiple misgivings over their entry, from wanting an increase in the $200m (£165m) anti-dilution fee a new team has to split between the existing teams in the current Concorde Agreement to reflect the newfound value the teams have, and not wanting to lose out on prize money as a result of an 11th team joining the grid.
Kravitz pointed out that the FIA approval Andretti have received is only a small fraction of what has to be done if they are to get on the grid in future, and they will have a lot of appeasing to do to win the approval of the relevant people to earn a place on the grid.
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“The Andrettis and their company and General Motors, they’re going to have to fight,” Kravitz said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“They’re going to have to fight to get in, they’re going to have to play the political game, they’re going to have to try and make it happen for themselves.
“Because at the moment, all of the signs are that they’re not going to get an agreement, so they need to fight to make it happen because the fans want it, the drivers want it.
“But yeah, they need to double down now. Getting approval from the FIA is just the first [part], it’s 10% of the job done really, they’re going to have to really go some to make it happen and add value to F1.”
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