FIA president Mohamed bin Sulayem has expressed surprise at the “negative reaction” to Andretti-Cadillac’s F1 plans.
Last week, Andretti Global and General Motors revealed they were forming a joint venture aimed at bringing the famous Cadillac name to F1.
The news follows the FIA’s review of a new ‘Expressions of Interest’ process to assess the interest and feasibility of potential teams wishing to enter F1 in the future. It was made public a few days after it was announced.
Andretti’s efforts to enter F1 have been met over the past year by much resistance from F1, which has been reluctant to expand the field so as not to dilute the sport’s current prize fund.
But General Motors’ involvement in Andretti has given the American organization so much credibility to the project that F1’s incumbents can no longer afford to ignore it.
F1’s reaction to the news was expected to be lukewarm at best, but surprisingly not a single mention of Andretti-Cadillac’s project was made on the official F1 website.
“At the moment there is a lot of interest in the F1 project and there are many conversations going on that are not as prominent,” F1 said in a terse response on Thursday.
“We all want the championship to remain credible and stable, and all requests from newcomers will be based on criteria to achieve those objectives by all relevant stakeholders. evaluated.”
“A new entrant’s request requires the consent of both F1 and the FIA.”
Mohammed bin Sulayem didn’t directly name F1 in his tweet on Sunday, but it was very clear who he was targeting.
“It is surprising that the news of Cadillac and Andretti has been met with negative reactions,” wrote Mohamed bin Sulayem.
“The FIA has been accepting entries from smaller and more successful organizations in recent years.
“We need to encourage future F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and racing thoroughbreds like Andretti.”
“The interest from teams in growth markets will add diversity and broaden the appeal of F1.”
There is currently a tug-of-war and tug-of-war between F1 and the FIA, which is determined to show off its authority.
