Andretti’s 11th team hopes dashed in blockbuster F1 announcement – F1 news round-up

Henry Valantine 31 Jan 2024 10:00 PM

F1 news: Andretti are rejected from joining the grid.

Formula 1 has rejected the Andretti-Cadillac bid.

If you missed any F1 news from Wednesday, you’re about to catch up on some very big headlines, let’s put it that way.

Andretti-Cadillac’s bid to get onto the F1 grid in 2025 or 2026 has been officially rejected by Formula 1 for multiple reasons, in a huge statement put out by the sport on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s unsurprising that this dominates our agenda on our wrap of the biggest F1 news of the day.

Andretti-Cadillac bid officially rejected by F1

Well, there won’t be an 11th team joining the grid in the 2025 or 2026 seasons, with Andretti having officially been rejected by Formula 1 for a place on the grid.

The sport gave a multitude of reasons in a lengthy, sometimes damning, statement against their arrival onto the grid, having conducted their own findings following the FIA’s approval of their entry back in October.

In one of the more blunt areas of the statement, F1 wrote: “We do not believe that [Andretti] would be a competitive participant”, and “while the Andretti name carries some recognition for F1 fans, our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around.”

However, a door has been left open for the future, with F1 adding: “We would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 Championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team.”

A simple ‘no’ was not enough, F1 went much further on Andretti

In a piece of immediate reaction to the news, our own Sam Cooper explained that the way in which Formula 1 set about trying to dismantle Andretti’s bid bit by bit was a brutal rejection.

Having already gone to great lengths to sign dozens of staff members, put together a wind tunnel, simulate a Formula 1 car in there, spend money on infrastructure and more, work was already going on apace to try and give Andretti a run-up for a potential entry.

But in the blink of an eye, it’s gone – at least for now.

Read more of Sam’s thoughts by clicking below.

F1’s full rejection of Andretti’s bid makes for astounding reading

Having seen F1’s full statement on the Andretti bid, a full assessment was made leading up to seven key points that led to the overall rejection – with Formula 1 stating that no other teams were consulted during their assessments.

The first conclusion was: “Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the Championship.

“The most significant way in which a new entrant would bring value is by being competitive. We do not believe that the Applicant would be a competitive participant.”

If you wanted to read all of what Formula 1 had to say in explaining itself over Andretti, click below.

Martin Brundle: FIA and FOM ‘at odds’ after Andretti news

Former F1 driver and current analyst Martin Brundle had his say on events in the immediate aftermath of the statement coming through from the sport, and a part of his assessment was that the sport itself and the governing body are now squarely at odds after the FIA approved Andretti, and FOM did not.

“This does put the FIA absolutely head-to-head with Formula One Management and Liberty Media, the financial rights holders, because the FIA said yes, Formula 1 have said no to what they often refer to in that document, it’s just come out as an 11th team, rather than necessarily Andretti,” Brundle explained on Sky Sports News.

“They’re quite rightly saying that for Andretti as a new team, ‘novice’, as they called them, to build a brand-new car for 2025 and then when the regulations change fundamentally for 2026 to start all over again, it’s too much of a tall order. They think they won’t be competitive.

“Andretti will no doubt say, ‘Well, give us a chance. We’re a mighty organisation with a lot of funding, we’ll show you what we can do and look at some of the other teams on the grid’ – so this is going to run for a good while.”

Malaysian Grand Prix revival hopes dashed with Petronas statement

Normally ‘in other news’ is used as a bit of a cliché as a term, but quite literally in other news, a report from news agency Reuters circulated stating that Malaysian state oil company Petronas, which purchased naming rights to the Sepang International Circuit, had started conversations trying to bring Formula 1 back to the popular circuit from 2026.

Having seen the report, however, the company moved to make a statement to swiftly deny the rumours.

They wrote: “PETRONAS refers to the news reports published on 31 January 2024 on the potential return of the Formula One Grand Prix to Sepang, Malaysia, in 2026.

“We would like to confirm that there have been no discussions on bringing the sport back to the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit.”