FIA approves Andretti bid to become new Formula One team

June 02, 2024

The FIA has approved Andretti Global’s proposal to join the Formula One grid as an 11th team in 2026, the F1 governing body announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

American racing dynasty Andretti announced its plan to set up an F1 team in collaboration with Cadillac in January after the FIA called for expressions of interest.
Following rigorous evaluations of the technical and sporting merits of the bid, the FIA has given its approval to Andretti’s proposal.
Andretti’s bid will now be considered by F1, which must also give its approval before the team is admitted to the grid.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

An all-American F1 team

The FIA began the process to expand the F1 grid from its existing 10 teams at the start of the year, prompting Andretti to announce a new partnership with General Motors brand Cadillac.

Andretti had been pushing to join the F1 grid for a number of years. The team has established racing operations in IndyCar, Formula E and Supercars, and came close to purchasing the existing Alfa Romeo F1 team in 2021, only for the deal to fall through at the last minute.

To expand the F1 grid, the FIA had to go through a formal process in which it called for expressions of interest before evaluating the technical, sporting and financial merits of each candidate. Of the four bids that made it to the final stage, Andretti’s was the only one to get final approval from the FIA.

Andretti’s chairman and CEO, Michael Andretti, has outlined plans to establish an all-American F1 team, which would include fielding an American driver in one of the race seats. It is expected this would be current Andretti IndyCar driver Colton Herta.

Andretti plans to chiefly run its F1 operation out of a new U.S. base in Fishers, Ind., while establishing a satellite facility in Europe that would also assist Andretti’s other racing interests.

Why it’s not a done deal yet

It is the first major hurdle for Andretti to overcome in getting a team on the F1 grid, but by no means the largest one.

While the team clearly has the racing capabilities to compete in F1, proven by its success in IndyCar and racing operations around the world, the commercial aspects of expanding the grid remain a point of concern for those currently racing.

In order to join the grid, Andretti requires approval from both the FIA and Formula One Management, the company owned by Liberty Media that looks after the commercial aspects of the sport. And thus far, both FOM and the existing 10 teams have raised concerns about expanding the grid.

By adding a new team, F1’s prize money — a big source of revenue for F1 teams — would be split 11 ways instead of 10, meaning each team would get a reduced payout. Although there is a dilution fee of $200 million any team must pay to join the grid, the sum being split between the existing participations, this was set before F1’s recent commercial boom and most want to see this fee at least triple in the future.

The existing teams have repeatedly said they would welcome expanding the grid so long as any new addition could prove to be additive and increase the value of the sport so they would not be left short on their prize money payouts in the future. Michael Andretti claimed in January the lukewarm response to his F1 plans was due to “greed” and “all about money.”

F1 now is set to evaluate the commercial considerations of Andretti’s proposal before making a final decision, a process that could take several months.

In a statement, F1 said: “We note the FIA’s conclusions in relation to the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own assessment of the merits of the remaining application.”

Required reading

(Photo: Daniel Kalisz / Getty Images)

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