So, Formula 1 rejected Andretti's bid by noting that it did not believe the team would be competitive and, therefore, would not add value to the sport.
It also suggested that Andretti would benefit more from its association with F1 than the other way around.
I sort of agree with parts of both points F1 make. I dont think that Andretti have a snowball's chance of being more than a tailender at the start. Its not like they are starting with a Brawn situation. Of course they will struggle given they have so little F1 experience. I also think this will be compounded by this 2025 planned entrance they had.... to build a car and then have to create another car to a complete new set of regulations the following year just sounds crazy to me. All this wind tunnel stuff doent impress me either. The Toyota wind tunnel is outdated. Haas were using that two years ago and said it ws just pissing money don the drain. Hence they use one of the Ferrari ones now.
However the Andretti lack of being competitive not adding value to the sport I dont agree with. As a tailend team they. wont add anything, but with the name Andretti it does add something, particularly to Americans. The name Andretti will add to F1 even if the team they bring doesnt.
Would Andretti benefit more than F1 from their mutual association? Probably, Especially if as I believe (just a hunch nothing concrete) Andretti are way off on what the cost of setting up from scratch will be, especially given the fact they are working on a 200 million dilution fee. That 200 million is obsolete given the surge in team valus of late.
Andretti baulked at paying 200 million for Sauber. The days of the 150/200 million dollar team are now gone. They taalk now of 800 million being the value of even Haas. Look at the Alpine and McLaren shareholdings and what they have done to team valuations with both of them now being officially worth a billion bucks. Dorilton must be laughing all the way to the bank, as would Stroll be, given the price they paid and the current value.
As we know F1 is all about the money and not so much the Sport. And to put it bluntly I dont believe Andretti have enough of it unless they have a raft of middle eastern type investors writing cheques. Im not sure of what GM are physically putting into the Andretti pot financially, but if they are developing an F1 engine from scratch there wont be much left in their budget to prop up Andretti.
Im not anti Andretti. Far from it I would love the Andretti name to be in F1. I just think the start up from scratch way they are proposing is more than a bit deluded. Even taking over an existing team isnt cheap anymore, and that is at least a 3 year jourrney at best. Even if your name is Audi and with the resources they have they are not expecting miracles.
Just my opinion.
Oh and there is a lot about the process and the F1 attitude and even their perception I dont like but thats another story....