The Federation has dissolved the reservation by rewarding the candidacy of the all-American team that Michael Andretti wants to manage with the support of General Motors. But the outcome of the commercial negotiations with F1 is far from certain
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Salvuss
The goal of debuting with its own team in Formula 1 is even (a little) closer for the Andretti family. The International Automobile Federation has in fact officially communicated that the team led by Michael Andretti – manager and former driver, eldest son of the legendary Mario who was F1 world champion in 1978 and then hero of both worlds with many successes in the United States – complies with all the regulatory requirements to apply to be the eleventh team in the paddock in the near future. News that has been in the air for weeks now and which has now found official confirmation from the highest regulatory body in Formula 1, but that doesn’t automatically mean that the Andrettis will actually get in in the competition.
ANDRETTI TO “PHASE THREE”
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After the opening of the tender to gather new potential subjects interested in entering the circus, only four teams managed to continue in the much more complicated phase of evaluating the requirements by the FIA. However, Team Andretti is the only one to have passed the second inspection of the auditors of Place de la Concorde, who focused not only on verifying economic availability, but also on sporting and technical capabilities and environmental sustainability programs (which had to be in line with Formula 1’s ambitious project to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2030 ). Phase three therefore risks being the most difficult for the Andretti to overcome, supported in this project by the American automotive giant General Motors, which would participate with the Cadillac brand.
THE NEGOTIATION WITH F1
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In the third and final phase, Andretti and GM will have to convince the ten teams involved and above all overcome the resistance of Liberty Media, the company that holds the commercial rights to Formula 1. The OK from the FIA is in fact a necessary but not sufficient requirement for entry and indeed in recent months several times Stefano Domenicali – the CEO of F1 wanted by Liberty Media – has reiterated the lack of economic interest in expanding the number of teams registered in the championship (consequently reducing the “slice” of income to be distributed to the teams) without hiding a certain intolerance towards the FIA’s decision to launch the tender.
THE FIA PRESIDENT SPEAKS
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While waiting for a response from Liberty Media, which in the coming weeks will sit down to discuss with the representatives of Andretti Formula Racing LCC (this is the formal name of the team led by Michael Andretti), meanwhile the FIA president said he was very satisfied for the successful entry process of the new potential team: “We were very clear in establishing rigorous criteria for entry and our aim was to only approve applications that met these criteria. The FIA is obliged to approve applications that meet the requirements and we have decided that Andretti, the only team to meet the selection criteria in all fields, will advance to the next phase. I congratulate Michael Andretti and his team for the thorough presentation, but I also want to thank all other potential teams for their interest and participation.”
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