Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has admitted that the opposition to the Andretti Cadillac Formula 1 team is about money.
Early 2022, Michael Andrettiformer F1 driver and son of 1978 world champion Mario, announced his intention to enter the sport with an all-new American team.
Despite a lukewarm reception to this news, the American has plowed through his plans, forging a partnership with General Motors through their Cadillac marque and putting the pieces in place for the team to make its debut in years to come.
However, F1 is split on whether or not to bring an 11th team onto the grid, with the governing body favoring the FIA, while the sport’s owners, Liberty Media, are not.
The current teams are also divided on the matter, with eight reportedly opposed to the idea. McLaren and Alpine would be the two to support Andretti who himself has accused his detractors of “greed and not looking at what’s best for the overall growth of the series.”
Horner has now clarified why there has been so much opposition to introducing a new team to the grid, confirming Andretti’s comments that money is the most important factor.
He told RACER: ‘Look, Andretti is a great brand, a great team. Mario, what he did in F1 – also as an American – is fantastic.
“Obviously GM with Cadillac are also two phenomenal brands to have in the sport, and I don’t think there can be any debate about that. As with all these things, in the end it comes down to, “Well, who’s going to pay for it?”
“And you can assume that the teams, if they’re seen as the ones paying for it — or diluting their payments to accommodate it — obviously won’t sit very well.
“The two teams that support it either have a partnership with them in the US or they’re going to provide an engine. The other eight say, “Wait a minute, why dilute our share of the prize money?”
“Introducing one or two more teams dilutes the value of the current 10 franchises, which of course teams – especially at the bottom of the grid – have very high inherent value right now.
“On the other side you have the Liberty guys who say, ‘Well, we’re not going to pay for it. We’re happy to have 10 healthy, competitive franchises from an operational perspective — garages, logistics, RVs — it’s all more to accommodate.”
‘I hope there will be a solution. What would be cleaner if they could take on one of the existing teams or franchises, but they are certainly both great brands that would be very, very welcome in Formula 1.
At the end of each season, the F1 teams receive a portion of the prize money which, as Horner rightly points out, would dilute if more teams entered the grid.
As a result, the rules dictate that each new entrant must pay a $200 million fee to be split among the existing teams to make up for any losses in prize money.
While Andretti doesn’t seem to have a problem with this, there are reports that current teams are looking to double that fee given the increasing value of the sport and the rising cost of running it.
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