FIA to start process for new teams to join F1

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

STROLL SELLS ASTON MARTIN F1 TEAM SHARES TO ARCTOS
REUTERS 16 NOVEMBER, 2023 1 MIN READ

Aston Martin Formula 1 team reported it had agreed on an investment by United States private equity firm Arctos Partners in exchange for a minority shareholding.

Owner Lawrence Stroll has sold his stake in the team valued at one billion euros ($1.09 billion) to Arctos, a person with knowledge about the matter told Reuters.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2023/11/16 ... to-arctos/

Stroll has sold a minority stake in the Aston Martin team to US private equity firm Arctos Partners.

The investment by Arctos, which has a stake in the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club owner Fenway Sports Group, values the F1 team at about £1 billion ($1.2 billion), according to a person familiar with the deal.....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... #xj4y7vzkg


Nothing that changes anything structually or the running of the F1 team other than maybe Arctos might get a seat on the board depaending on the percentage of their minority holding. More what it has done is now officially given his team a billion dollar plus valuation due to the price paid for the shares..

[Aty]

I find regretable that GP racing has become focal point of investment banking. LV on the calendar is most likely sign of things to come.

[Vassago]

Wasn't that investement banking business heavily involved in sponsoring golf for years? With Saudis & LIV taking over that sport maybe they needed a new host for their sponsorship and found it in F1 to some extent?

[Aty]

Brundle on Andretti:

“Andretti is a great name, but on the other side of the coin, they’ve never really built their own car, they haven’t really dominated IndyCar in recent years, or any of the other categories. So it’s not given that just because it’s called Andretti, it’ll be competitive,” reckoned Brundle.

Federation president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and his FIA team gave the nod for Andretti Global to become F1 team eleven, declaring that with GM backing and the plan delivered by Michael was an “offer F1 cannot refuse.”

The ball is now in the court of F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to give the final approval despite staunch and vocal opposition to Andretti’s foray by the current teams, barring Alpine who are willing to supply the new American team with Power Units until 2026, when GM will reportedly toll out their own Cadillac-badged PU package.

Brundle also sees it from the other side of the fence: “I can understand why Formula 1 and the other teams are going: Hang on a minute. F1 is in a very good place now, you can’t just join this club when we’ve gone through the years and the decades of losing money and putting lots of capital expenditure and huge amounts of budget into all this.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2023/12/29 ... la-1-grid/

I think Brundle stated basic concerns quite eloquently:

1. What have you (Andretti) actually done as a constructor to prove your competency vis a vis F1?
2. Where have you been (teams are asking) when we were losing money and bulding sport for what it is now?

Audi is exposed to the same questions. Difference is, they are taking over an existing team. In 2026 the financial pizza will remain divided into 10 slices, and Audi (ex Sauber) staff has some level of know-how about F1 technology. Audi is in significantly different position from Andretti.

As I understand it, the decision pertaining to addition of 11th team is with Liberty.

[Aty]

Can Haas continue in the following configuration and accomplish something worthwhile?

The youngest racing team in the field only employs 250 people, is spread over four locations, buys 70 percent of the cars from Ferrari and operates under the budget cap.

AMuS

On one hand we can shrug shoulders and look the other way, but why drag other teams on this road with aim to level up with them? Front teams currently seems to maintain 400 - 500 employees (it will include Audi), if we are to believe rumours about staffing. This should be optimum. (Works now.)

US based interest should negotiate swap with Haas, and we could preserve the F1 grid with 10 teams racing.

[Star]

The FIA have apparently said thanks but no thanks to the Andretti team joining F1 in 2026. They're not saying an outright no, just a no for now.

Formula 1 has rejected the American Andretti team's bid to enter the sport in the next two years - but left the door open for admission from 2028.

Andretti's entry had been approved by governing body the FIA but commercial rights holders F1 felt the proposal for entry in 2025 or 2026 was lacking.

F1 conducted analysis involving key stakeholders and decided an 11th team "would not on its own add value".

F1 also does "not believe the applicant would be a competitive participant".

That could change when partner General Motors produces its own engine.

GM - which is backing Andretti through its luxury Cadillac brand - has said it plans to build its own F1 engine in time for the 2028 season.

F1 said it 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 designing all allowable components in-house.

"In this case there would be additional factors to consider in respect of the value that the applicant would bring to the championship, in particular in respect of bringing a prestigious new OEM [car manufacturer] to the sport as a PU [engine] supplier."

F1 said that before that stage, "the need for any new team to take a compulsory power-unit supply, potentially over a period of several seasons, would be damaging to the prestige and standing of the championship".

And it dismissed the argument that the Andretti name - associated both with 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti and his son Michael, an Indycar legend and former F1 driver - was a compelling addition.

"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," a statement said.

Michael Andretti is one of the most successful Indycar drivers of all time who also raced in F1 for most of the 1993 season for McLaren. His team competes in Indycar, endurance racing, touring cars, and the electric Formula E and Extreme E championships.

Andretti's father Mario is a motorsport legend who raced in F1 from 1968 to 1982, and won 12 grands prix in addition his world title. He was also successful in Indycar and endurance racing, is a figurehead for the team.

Other factors taken into account in the decision were the "operational burden on race promoters, [which] would subject some to significant costs".

And F1 said it was "not able to identify any material expected positive effect on CRH financial results, as a key indicator of the pure commercial value of the championship".

The decision was arrived at following research and analysis involving broadcasters, sponsors and circuits - the sport's main revenue streams.

F1's key finding centred on engine supply. It essentially decided that having to use an engine from an existing manufacturer for a limited period while having close links to a company that would soon be a rival was too big a compromise on the team's potential competitiveness.

It is a different situation from that of a normal customer engine supply - such as that of Mercedes with McLaren - because of the potential risks to intellectual property and the restrictions F1 considers that would place on collaboration.

The existing F1 teams had made it clear that they were not in favour of Andretti's entry for 2025 or 2026, on the basis that it would have diluted their earnings from prize money.

Current rules dictate that new entrants must pay an anti-dilution fee of $200m (£158m) to compensate the existing teams but they felt this was insufficient given the current values of F1 teams, which are in the region of $1bn.

However, F1's statement made no mention of consulting the existing teams in its assessment of Andretti's bid, or a recognition of their position.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68158107

[Aty]

Very strange,

RN365 posted an article 10:40 this morning, Jan 31.

Andretti reveals it has poached staff from major F1 rivals

Michael Andretti's Formula 1 project is still in the works as it waits to hear if its bid will be accepted, but a number of staff members have already been snatched from rival F1 teams.

[Cheeveer]

The irony is that by rejecting Andretti, F1 has done considerable harm to its own brand. F1 is a sport first and foremost, today it didn't even try to hide its greedy cynical side. Or they are just doft. Can't decide.

[erwin greven]

Formula 1 is terminally ill.

[Ruslan]

Disgrace. Andretti should just sue them under EU laws about monopolistic practices.

[Ruslan]

FIA Official Statement:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... e4b2&ei=25

[Aty]

Disgrace. Andretti should just sue them under EU laws about monopolistic practices.

Maybe he could. Then in turn we can discuss the F1 ownership for 100 years, and despite racing in distant lands (for me), BE & Co. made sure no one in Europe can lunch a competing series and race on the same tracks Liberty has abandoned in favour of higher loot elsewhere. It seems complicated and without winners in sight.

[Ruslan]

Disgrace. Andretti should just sue them under EU laws about monopolistic practices.

Maybe he could. Then in turn we can discuss the F1 ownership for 100 years, and despite racing in distant lands (for me), BE & Co. made sure no one in Europe can lunch a competing series and race on the same tracks Liberty has abandoned in favour of higher loot elsewhere. It seems complicated and without winners in sight.

He should, along with the other three teams that were rejected. Force FIA to defend itself in open court, which would be a PR disaster for them.

[Aty]

Disgrace. Andretti should just sue them under EU laws about monopolistic practices.

Maybe he could. Then in turn we can discuss the F1 ownership for 100 years, and despite racing in distant lands (for me), BE & Co. made sure no one in Europe can lunch a competing series and race on the same tracks Liberty has abandoned in favour of higher loot elsewhere. It seems complicated and without winners in sight.

He should, along with the other three teams that were rejected. Force FIA to defend itself in open court, which would be a PR disaster for them.

My (admittedly superficial) understanding is, that FiA wanted Andretti in, however when it was passed onto Liberty, it ended with rejection as we read today.

The teams weren't happy at all, but they did not have final word in the matter. I love that one part in today's article - analysis showed that entry would be beneficial for Andretti, but not the F1. (Something to that effect.)

The teams paricipated in development of the product, they lost a lot of money over last decade, and Andretti stood on sidelines. Now he smells money, and wants in with little sweat. So, F1 said NO - for now. Personnaly I am OK with the decision to keep him out. It seems fair to the teams.

[MonteCristo]

What a stinking load of horseshit.

If they have the means, let them run. They have manufacturer backing for heaven's sake. They have a name and history in F1. They have money. They have resources.

All Liberty and F1 do is chase money and America. And yet here's one of the only F1 names mainstream Americans have catalogued somewhere in the back of their heads: Andretti. Instead of thinking of it as an opportunity to grow the size of the pot, they protect a handful of million dollars of prizemoney. And simultaneously piss on what little remains of F1's sporting side.

[PTRACER]

F*** F1 and it's arrogance. Bottom line, "It won't make the FIA any extra money so we reject it."

This is not the BS I wanted to hear just 28 days from the start of the new season, because it's a big FU to all of us as well. This attitude is why myself and so many others were blocked from watching F1 on the official F1 app last year, as paying customers.