Formula 1 and the Andretti team have locked horns yet again. The team, founded by 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti and run by his son Michael, is clearly not done with Formula 1 just yet. And things are starting to get pretty tense in the paddock.
To say that Andretti and F1 have a troubled relationship is a massive understatement. The American team - currently competing in many competitions including IndyCar and Formula E - got approval from the FIA to join Formula 1 late last year. F1 themselves and their parent company Liberty Media however were not so keen on the idea. Back in January they published a letter that used a lot of extra words to say: “No”.
Did Andretti take that lying down? Well, given that I’m now writing my fourth article in three months about this topic, I think the answer to that is pretty clear. The icy relationship between the two sides is starting to become quite problematic as this soap opera continues to drag on.
The Andretti side
Let’s go back a little. In April, Andretti came out of the gates swinging with a status update that was basically the motorsport equivalent of “Look at me, I’m doing just fine without you!”. They announced they were setting up a brand new base in Silverstone to manage all their European motorsport activities. It is supposed to be the home of the future F1 team, as well as their current Formula E team, but in time they also want to run a Formula 2 or Formula 3 team from there and a WEC team.
And then Andretti really brought out the big guns. At the start of this month, Mario Andretti testified before members of the US House of Representatives about the entire situation. The representatives were very angry and made a great statement, sprinkled through with the typical eye-rolling Americanism. The United States Senate has now taken over their verdict and has passed it on to the US Justice Department to investigate F1 and Liberty Media for violating anti-trust laws. Mario Andretti claims this was an idea by the US congress and that he didn't initiate it, but the F1 paddock isn't quite buying that story.
And then this week came the real coup-de-grace. Pat Symonds is stepping down from his position as FIA Chief Technical Officer after seven years of service. Mere hours after that announcement, it was revealed that he’s now joining the Andretti camp as a special consultant.
The F1 side
So how did F1 respond to that? It shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that the answer is: not well. They reportedly were very upset with the whole congressional affair. In an interview with NBC, Mario Andretti confirmed that he spoke with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei. While Domenicali has always tried to be diplomatic, Maffei clearly took a different approach. According to Andretti, Maffei walked up to him and said without hesitation: “Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael never enters Formula 1”.
In F1’s original statement in January, they argued that the Andretti team or an eleventh team in general wouldn’t really add any inherent value to Formula 1. While I - and most other people - disagreed, it was at least a coherent argument with some logic behind it. This statement by Maffei makes it seem like there’s a real vendetta against the Andretti family now. It’s a really negative development in this cold war between the two sides.
Things will get worse before they get better
You’d have to wonder how much more ugly this whole thing will get before we reach a real resolution. This Cold War between Andretti and F1 was relatively stable. But just like the real-life Cold War, there are moments where it will heat up. This week looks a lot like one of those hotspot moments, and neither side shows any desire to back down.
Earlier I argued that money is the main motivator for F1 to block Andretti. And let’s be real here: Andretti might want to join F1 for the prestige and the love of the game, but they obviously hope to get a financial gain out of it too. But now, I’m not so sure anymore if money is really the biggest and only factor in this ordeal. Battle lines have been drawn. Diplomatic negotiations have broken down. Political forces have gotten involved. I don’t think it’s a matter of financial or sporting gain anymore, it is now a matter of pride. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching F1 all these years, it’s that pride and scorn are very, very powerful motivators.