Andretti-Cadillac and the FOM: lost in advance or doomed to get along?

She says she carefully studied all aspects of the “Andretti-Cadillac” candidacy before giving a favorable opinion, but did the FIA ​​really have a choice? If we will never know in detail the real differences between the files proposed for study, there is one known to all and which, obviously, tipped the scales.

Indeed, how could the International Automobile Federation have closed the door to Cadillac, and therefore to General Motors, the fifth largest automobile group in the world?

Once the process entitled “Expression of interest” was launched, it was obvious that it could not not give the green light, the holder of the commercial rights being subsequently free to reach an agreement or not with Andretti Global.

Obviously, she could have looked the other way and decided not to grant any legal framework to everyone's "expressions of interest", but the pressure was still too strong given the strong symbols represented by one of the applicants. If it had only been the Hitech Grand Prix or Rodin Cars structures involved in Formula 2, and the slightly more dubious projects of LKYSUNZ and Formula Equal, not sure that the institution would have been interested in the subject.

On the other hand, with a name like Andretti synonymous with motorsport in the USA and a Cadillac firm, the flagship of the American automobile industry, it was difficult for President Mohammed Ben Sulayem to remain silent. Especially since he saw another interest in it in the midst of a power war with the FOM for control of the championship.

Enter Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the F1, and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA, a power struggle has been playing out for several months. / © DPPI

Fans vote “for”!

By giving an equal framework to the identification process, he made the FIA ​​an essential interlocutor and, above all, he put a real thorn in the side of the FOM. A win-win situation because the institution will have the great role whatever the decision, not to mention the rather enjoyable embarrassment in which it places the F1 Group which finds itself faced with its own contradictions.

How in fact will he be able to justify a refusal when he never fails to emphasize that the fans – the majority of whom are in favor of the arrival of Andretti – are at the heart of his policy? If the door were to remain closed, it is possible that they would discover that they are ultimately very little on the Formula 1 chessboard where the only victorious diagonal is that of money.

It is him who, ultimately, will make the difference because Formula 1 is today built on a franchise model that we find in all modern American sports, where the teams only protect their own interests as any other team would do in any other sport. Therefore, it is difficult to see how the ten teams on the grid will be able to come to the conclusion that an 11th team is good for F1!

Rising tax…

All of them will put forward the undeniable fact that they have largely contributed to the development of the F1 show, that they were there when the situation was not good and that they went through all the sacrifices to survive and ensure the very survival of the premier category of motorsport.

By going from 10 to 11, their franchise will lose its value and the share of revenue will decrease, which calls for compensation which for the moment is set at 200 million dollars, paid in 10 identical amounts given to each of the teams of the board. Some people want to multiply this amount by 3!

Therefore, it is likely that any commercial agreement between Andretti-Cadillac and the FOM will first go through an upward revision of this anti-dilution tax. The latter is the only lever that Stefano Domenicali, CEO of F1, can really activate because the others are hardly admissible.

An Andretti-Cadillac structure would bring much more to F1 on American soil than the team currently brings Haas while it has made the US market a priority. The “dead weight” argument does not hold up, any more than the one insinuating that Michael Andretti is a simple speculator who wants to access the premier discipline to enrich himself.

Andretti is already World Drivers Champion Formula E but shining in Formula 1 is another story / © DPPI

Andretti at the helm?

Possible after all, but the fact that Andretti Global operates in eight championships on six continents rather speaks in its favor even if the entity will have to raise its game because if it can boast of a world champion title with Jake Dennis in Formula E this season, his last driver title in IndyCar dates back to 2012 with Ryan Hunter-Reay.

And she has not won the Indianapolis 500 since Takuma Sato's success in 2017. The relative shortage in IndyCar obviously does not mean that Andretti will fail in F1, but if it is accepted the structure will have to recruit the right people and put in place the right facilities.

Likewise, if the Andretti clan wants to be heard, it will have to think of a new approach: the frontal one that it has adopted until now having shown its limits. They chose arrogance as a weapon of defense and it turned against them. Today it is up to Michael and Mario Andretti to show their credentials and make Liberty Media understand that they deserve the place and not what is due to them, and also that they will enrich the championship by their mere presence.

A hell of a challenge ahead and hours of discussions which must remain cordial. Afterwards, come what may with the specter of legal action in the event of no agreement. If the conclusion were to take place on the green carpet, the FOM would have to explain why what is good for F1 in the eyes of the FIA ​​is not good in its own eyes!