Soldato
A couple of races ago Stefano Domenicali popped into the Sky commentary box and had a chat with Crofty et al. When Crofty casually mentioned getting more teams on the grid, Stefano was pretty abrupt in shutting him down and saying no F1 doesn't need any more teams.
This belief seems to have been echoed in the way F1/FIA/Toto and some other has treated the potential Andretti application.
Curious what people's take on this is. In my opinion F1 could certainly use one or two more teams on the grid. That should promote more competition, and allow more seats for drivers (6 additional drivers if you count reserves). At present when a driver wins F2 they are stuck in no-mans land. As we've seen in the past, manufactures walk away from F1 in an instant when they don't like something, more 'proper' racing teams helps maintain the grid when this happens.
I find the reluctance by the powers that be to take serious the attempted entry by the Andretti organisation a bit weird. Back in 2010 F1 was desperate for new teams, so much so it let in a bunch of clown teams that became something of a laughing stock e.g. USF1, HRT. The last new team on the grid was the tooling company Haas in 2016. None had the budget or pedigree/experience of a potential Andretti Autosport entry.
The Andretti team is a pure racing team, competing in multiple series in multiple countries. It's far more prepared and capable, than any other teams that have entered in the last 20 years. It already has the $200m buy-in ready, already has the budget for F1, and is spending some half a billion on it's racing projects and infrastructure. Added to that, it would be another US team, which is something that should go down well in country that already hosts three races, and especially with cross-over fans from series it already competes in.
McLaren, are happy to have Andretti join, Mercedes seem dead against it. I would imagine other teams are concerned about prize money, but that is what the $200m buy-in is for. To compensate for a slightly smaller piece of the pie. There's also the fact there will be more competition for places. Apparently the step in prize money for constructors places is some $12m, so any team losing a position to Andretti would be in for a hit.
F1 itself might also have to give up a little revenue to teams if the number of teams grows, but then you'd hope a quality US entrant would help to grow to the pie anyway. Then there is sponsorship, current teams might worry about additional competition for sponsorship, but if the sport grows, or more US companies come onboard, that shouldn't be an issue.
Anyway, just seems strange to me, that F1 is completely dismissive and doesn't think this or any other potential entry is worth looking into.
This belief seems to have been echoed in the way F1/FIA/Toto and some other has treated the potential Andretti application.
Curious what people's take on this is. In my opinion F1 could certainly use one or two more teams on the grid. That should promote more competition, and allow more seats for drivers (6 additional drivers if you count reserves). At present when a driver wins F2 they are stuck in no-mans land. As we've seen in the past, manufactures walk away from F1 in an instant when they don't like something, more 'proper' racing teams helps maintain the grid when this happens.
I find the reluctance by the powers that be to take serious the attempted entry by the Andretti organisation a bit weird. Back in 2010 F1 was desperate for new teams, so much so it let in a bunch of clown teams that became something of a laughing stock e.g. USF1, HRT. The last new team on the grid was the tooling company Haas in 2016. None had the budget or pedigree/experience of a potential Andretti Autosport entry.
The Andretti team is a pure racing team, competing in multiple series in multiple countries. It's far more prepared and capable, than any other teams that have entered in the last 20 years. It already has the $200m buy-in ready, already has the budget for F1, and is spending some half a billion on it's racing projects and infrastructure. Added to that, it would be another US team, which is something that should go down well in country that already hosts three races, and especially with cross-over fans from series it already competes in.
McLaren, are happy to have Andretti join, Mercedes seem dead against it. I would imagine other teams are concerned about prize money, but that is what the $200m buy-in is for. To compensate for a slightly smaller piece of the pie. There's also the fact there will be more competition for places. Apparently the step in prize money for constructors places is some $12m, so any team losing a position to Andretti would be in for a hit.
F1 itself might also have to give up a little revenue to teams if the number of teams grows, but then you'd hope a quality US entrant would help to grow to the pie anyway. Then there is sponsorship, current teams might worry about additional competition for sponsorship, but if the sport grows, or more US companies come onboard, that shouldn't be an issue.
Anyway, just seems strange to me, that F1 is completely dismissive and doesn't think this or any other potential entry is worth looking into.
