Formula One rejects Andretti’s bid to join in 2025 or 2026،
Formula 1 formally rejected Andretti and Cadillac's joint bid to enter the championship in 2025 or 2026, but left the door open for the team's entry in 2028.
Andretti and Cadillac, a brand of General Motors, had formed a technical partnership to join F1 as the 11th team. The application was technically approved by the ruling FIA last year.
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The bid would likely have hinged on a Renault engine deal in the short term, although General Motors has signed up to join F1 as an engine manufacturer from 2028.
F1 rejected the plan in its current form on Wednesday, but said Andretti had a good chance of joining in 2028 if General Motors follows through on plans to build its own F1 power unit.
The move means the F1 grid will remain made up of 10 teams and 20 drivers for at least the next four years.
Opposition to the project goes deeper than the logistics of the car's engine. Early last year, team founder Michael Andretti, son of 1978 world champion Mario, accused F1's 10 existing teams of being “very greedy”, saying of their opposition: “Everything It's about money.”
F1 was not bound by the opinions of existing competitors, but the majority of the sport's 10 teams opposed bringing in a new team because it would dilute the prize money shared between them. This opposition undoubtedly helped shape F1's decision.
F1 also said it did not believe Andretti could step in and be truly competitive with a customer deal. Even before Wednesday's decision, Andretti had rejected the suggestion and insisted the team would have been ready to race by 2025.
Andretti-Cadillac has hired big names from the world of motor racing, including former Renault technical director Nick Chester, and set up a UK satellite base at Silverstone to support the team's global racing center in Indianapolis.
It was also tested in the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne with a 60% size model designed according to current regulations.
Many in F1 were also skeptical about the logic of Andretti joining the grid in 2025 before a major regulation change comes into effect for the 2026 season.
