Red Bull, McLaren and Alpine give their view on F1 rejecting Andretti's bid to join F1

Bruno Famin, Zak Brown and Christian Horner supported F1 on its clear decision on Andretti Cadillac’s entry as an eleventh team. Speaking at a press conference at the preseason test in Bahrain, the team representatives felt that the decision had already been made and not much could be said about it.

While Famin and Brown felt that there was not much to say about the F1’s decision on Andretti, Horner clarified that it did not mean Andretti could still not enter the sport. He stated that the decision by the sport to reject the American team’s bid was to add a team to the grid. However, the Briton felt there was still a chance for them to enter if they bought an existing team or invested in one.

The American outfit was to partner with General Motors’ Cadillac to enter the sport as a customer team, potentially with an engine deal with Alpine, if they were to succeed. Their bid was rejected on the grounds of them not being able to bring enough value as a customer team.

Asked if the negative reaction to Andretti’s bid being rejected was anticipated and their thoughts on the matter, the Alpine team principal said:

“I’m not to be surprised on that. I think the decision belongs to Formula 1, they are the ones able to evaluate the situation, to assess the situation, to evaluate if the relevant team is able to bring value to the championship. This is their responsibility, this is their championship, to which we just take note of their decision.”

Similar to Bruno, the McLaren CEO said:

“I think just what Bruno said. The decision has been made. Formula 1 laid out its criteria and has made the decision. Speaking for myself and our colleagues, focusing on our racing teams and getting on with the season.”

Clarifying the decision of F1 and its stakeholders to reject the bid, Horner said:

“Not a lot to add, Formula 1 have made their position clear. It doesn’t mean that Andretti can’t come. It means they just can’t come as a new or an eleventh team. So the opportunity still exists for them to take over an existing franchise or team, if they could reach commercial terms.”

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General Motors is positive they can make a successful entry into F1 despite rejection

General Motors’ Vice President of performance and motorsport Jim Campbell claims that Andretti Cadillac are working on entering F1 as a manufacturer instead of a customer team.

He stated that after their application to enter as a customer team was rejected, they have decided to have another follow-up meeting to weigh more options. The American automotive group is said to consider the possibility of making Cadillac manufacture their own F1 engines for 2028 and beyond.

Campbell suggested that their initial application submitted to the FIA considered both scenarios of them being a customer team and their potential of being a manufacturer.

Speaking at Daytona, as reported by the Motorsport Network, Campbell said:

“In terms of our application with Andretti, we feel great about our application. The FIA studied it against other applicants, and then gave our application a vote of confidence and approval. So obviously the FOM made their statement, and we have asked for a follow up meeting with FOM, and so we will work through that. We do believe between Andretti and Cadillac that we have got the capability of fielding a competitive entry. We are not saying that it is easy, but we do between our two organisations have examples in our history of where we have been successful in other motorsports categories, and that is true of Cadillac and Andretti. With that said, our joint teams are continuing to develop our car at pace. So, that is where we are at.”

“As I said, we believe in the application we submitted. And in that application we articulated the abilities of both Andretti as a race team, and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity. So, we feel confident in the application and are asking for a meeting with FOM. When you register to be a power unit, there is a deadline to do that, and for us it was last June for 2028. If you wanted to develop an engine sooner, then you would have had to register the previous year for that. So, it’s simply a regulation.”

F1 clarified in their statement that there was no room for an eleventh team on the grid, to which many critics felt that the existing teams were greedy and did not want to share the revenue.

However, the statement was clear that the Andretti Cadillac duo added value to the sport if they entered as an engine manufacturer more than a customer. While F1 has had more than ten teams in the past, the need for more manufacturers has always brought in more value.