Despite being approved by the FIA, Andretti’s application was rejected by FOM.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown suggested “there’s always a number” Andretti can bid to make a rival team sell up, if they want to make it onto the Formula 1 grid.
This week, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem changed his stance and advised potential Formula 1 entrants to consider purchasing an existing team instead. Earlier in 2023, the FIA had been seeking interested parties to enlarge the grid, with Andretti being the sole team to meet their requirements.
Zak Brown: ‘There’s always a number’ Andretti could reach to buy current F1 team
When the proposed Andretti Cadillac entry reached Formula One Management, it was rejected due to FOM’s refusal to expand the grid.
In order to join the grid, Andretti would have been required to pay a $200m anti-dilution fee to the existing teams. However, FIA president Ben Sulayem acknowledged that the remarkable success of Formula 1 in recent years should substantially raise this price for any prospective new teams.
When it was put to the McLaren CEO that Andretti should buy an existing constructor, even though none are publicly for sale, Brown explained that there will be a figure they can offer that will make any team think about selling up.
“That would certainly be the easiest thing to do,” Brown told ESPN when asked about Andretti buying another team.
Currently, there appears to be a lack of sellers, indicating the need for a larger offer in order to entice potential sellers.
From my perspective, every house has a number displayed on their front door, but I haven’t come across any “for sale” signs.
More on the Andretti F1 bid and recent developments on it
FIA president tells Andretti ‘go and buy another team’ in surprise F1 entry U-turn
Opinion: Stop telling Andretti to buy an existing F1 team when nobody is up for sale
Andretti needs to be aware that purchasing an existing team at present is expected to be considerably pricier compared to entering the grid as a new team under the current Concorde Agreement.
However, according to Brown’s explanation, the grid is currently in a significantly more lucrative position than it has been in a while, thanks to the impact of Liberty Media, the commercial rights holders of the sport.
According to Brown, in the past, Formula 1 had a historical attitude of indifference towards teams who couldn’t complete a full season: “Previously, in Formula 1, teams were expected to participate, and if they didn’t last halfway through the year, it was not a concern for the sport.”
Therefore, in the past, Lola was tasked with initiating a team, but unfortunately, they faced failure and dissolved following only three races.
In my opinion, Liberty currently has 10 exceptionally strong teams, so they will carefully evaluate and set the highest standards for the 11th and 12th teams. I believe this approach is appropriate and necessary.
“In the past, it was common to witness teams facing financial troubles every year. However, the current scenario reveals that more than half of the grid is now operating profitably.”
Williams was originally purchased for $150 million, but it is highly unlikely that the team can be acquired for anything less than $1.5 billion five years later.
The amount of value created has been immense.
Read next: Laurent Mekies on leaving Ferrari, Red Bull’s glass ceiling and the future of RB
