Toto Wolff, James Vowles share their opinion on the latest on Andretti teaming up with Cadillac in a bid to enter F1.
One of F1’s more intriguing stories over the last while is that of Andretti Racing entering the pinnacle of motor racing bringing in General Motors’ Cadillac brand together with them. It is a bold and ambitious move and so much so that Mercedes guru Wolff believes that Andretti Global and General Motors made “a statement” with the announcement they have joined forces in an attempt to enter Formula One.
The majority of the F1 fraternity are to a certain degree a tad uneasy about Andretti entering the blue riband part of motor sport and one of the bigger critics has been Wolff with a focal issue for the current teams (10) being the dilutionary effect of adding another to the championship.
In mid 2022, Wolff advised it “hasn’t been demonstrated” that any prospective new entrant would be additive to the current competitors, else they would “cheer for such an entry”, thus F1 itself was hardly happy when Andretti announced recently of a tie with GM/Cadillac in its pursuit of a berth in the championship.
The Andretti/Cadillac topic has already kick-started some war of words between F1/Liberty Media and FIA/Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Meanwhile, Wolff has now gone on to acknowledge that it is a positive step in the ambitions of the IndyCar legend.
“Cadillac and GM, that’s a statement,” said Wolff to F1 media. “Certainly, them joining forces with Andretti is definitely a positive. It gives it another angle that may or may not be beneficial for Formula 1, but definitely nobody would ever question GM’s or Cadillac’s pedigree in motorsport, and obviously as a global auto company.”
His now former counterpart James Vowles, now installed at Williams gave a similar opinion on the matter but he wants to understand still how it will grow the sport. “We’re always open to the sport growing, but the truth behind it is the sport financially needs to become more and more successful,” he said.
“Whoever joins in that environment needs to bring with it effectively the growth that is required in order for everyone else to be in a better position, or at least a neutral position, and I think it’s been the statement from the outset, from the beginning. There are a lot of lovely things about Andretti and about Cadillac. It just needs to have a good understanding of how it will grow the sport, in what way, and what the growth will be.”
It does remain to be an intriguing issue with a certain amount of negativity around the entry to F1 of Andretti. It is as if they were not wanted or welcomed. With 10 teams already installed, an extra team gives teams less a slice of the cake but it remains to be seen what the heads decide eventually.
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