An eleventh Formula 1 team is about to arrive! This is the big announcement that is expected, perhaps today at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with increasingly insistent rumors in the corridors.
As we reported to you a few days ago, Andretti Global is in the process of restructuring and recruitment has been relaunched.
The new team should be based on this structure but could have another name, still linked to General Motors and Cadillac.
This arrival in 2026 looks like an approach constrained and forced by the ongoing American investigations against Liberty Media, which had refused the arrival of Andretti, unlike the FIA.
At a press conference today, Toto Wolff was asked about the latest developments. Teams didn't want a new contender who wouldn't bring value to the championship, and it's a position he still holds to this day.
“We have an obligation, a legal obligation, as directors, to present the point of view that is best for our company and for our employees, and we have done that in the past. I think if a team can contribute to the championship, especially if GM decides to come in as a team owner, that's another story.”
“And as long as it's creative, meaning we increase the popularity of the sport, we increase the revenue of the sport, then no team will ever object to it. So I have all my hope in it .No one at Andretti or Andretti global or whatever the name is has ever said a single sentence to me to introduce what the creative part is.”
“But they don't need it because the teams don't decide. It's the commercial rights holder, with the FIA we have nothing to say. We can have an opinion, like the one I have here right now it's just if I want to get invited to a party and go I sit at the table and I say who I am and why I'm really fun and I sit here and everyone will appreciate my presence.”
“That didn't happen, but you know, this is now my personal view, not a professional view, because there's nothing we can do, nothing we can say. And I don't know the people. I obviously spoke to Mario Andretti. Yes, I spoke to Mario once. I haven't spoken to any other person who is behind this. .I don't know who they are but I know GM is. awesome.”
Vasseur adds: “At the end of the day, I'm not sure we have any say in the discussion. The discussion is between the FIA, the team and the FOM. It's not our choice. Of course, as l 'said Toto, if it's good for the sport, for the spectacle, for the business and it adds value at the sporting level, everything is fine for us But once again, the decision belongs to the FOM and. not to Toto, to myself or to Ollie.”
Oliver Oakes concludes: “I think they covered everything. I think FOM was also pretty transparent in their decision and the value they needed to provide.”
