"I can't imagine anyone would try to stop us"- Michael Andretti makes bold claim about facing a potential rejection from F1

Andretti Motorsport owner Michael Andretti said he could not imagine that any F1 team would try to stop them from entering the sport as it would not benefit them financially.

The American motorsport giants have been trying to enter the pinnacle of motorsport for a few years now and even got an affirmative response from the FIA. However, Andretti's entry into the sport has not been unanimously agreed upon by the F1 teams as they are denying them entry fearing a monetary loss.

Speaking with The Athletic, Michael Andretti pointed out that he did not fear rejection from F1 and said:

“As Mohammed (Ben Sulayem) has said a number of times, the benefits we will bring to the sport and the championship are so obvious. I can’t imagine anyone would want to try to stop us and deprive racing fans of the opportunity to see a genuine American works team going head-to-head with the legendary names currently competing in F1.”

The team's technical director Nick Chester added that they are pushing on with the development of the infrastructure and the car, saying:

“If everybody knows you’re just pushing on, then everybody’s focusing on their own areas, trying to generate as much performance as they can. That generates a great atmosphere, so that’s the way we’ve gone about it.”

Andretti explains the 'difficulties' they are facing in entering F1

The former F1 driver stated that he had not imagined that he would face such difficulties in entering F1 and claimed that they have been subjected to politics by the teams.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Andretti said:

"We have got to realize what we're getting into. We're getting into a lot of politics and things like that. It's just the way it is. And we'll just deal with it. I didn't think it would be this hard to get in. But we'll prove our weight to get in."

Andretti also spoke about how the F1 teams perceive the American giants and added:

"First of all, they think that we're a bunch of hillbillies over here. And we don't know what we're doing. [But] because we have a lot of experience in racing, we might come at it from a different angle than everybody else, and it might work."

It will be fascinating to see if the F1 teams will continue to reject the entry of the American team over the next two years before the new Concorde Agreement is implemented.