(Doha) The owner of Aston Martin declared Thursday that he was against the candidacy of the American team Andretti Cadillac Racing, which wishes to join Formula 1 and thus become the eleventh team in the premier category of motorsport.
“I think that if the operating system (of F1) is not exhausted, we do not need to remodel it. I believe it works very well with ten teams and I think it should stay that way,” Lawrence Stroll told Sky Sports.
The reaction of the boss of Aston Martin, who considers that F1 “has never been in such good health”, follows the announcement on Monday of the green light from the FIA, the governing body of motorsport, to for Andretti to become the 11th F1 team from the 2025 or 2026 season.
F1 immediately announced that it was “taking note of the FIA’s conclusions with regard to the first and second phases of their process and we will now proceed to our own assessment of the strength of this application”.
The American team’s candidacy is supported by Michael Andretti, former F1 driver and son of Mario Andretti, F1 world champion in 1978.
The Andretti team was the only one of the four candidates to be admitted to the second stage of the selection process to reach the next stage, but its place on the grid remains subject to the conclusion of a commercial agreement with Liberty Media, holder of the F1 rights.
The ten teams, cautious about the arrival of Andretti because of the sharing of revenues and prices, believe that the 200 million dollars in entry fees for the potential new competitor is insufficient compensation.
Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, who joined Aston Martin this season and notably competed in the Indianapolis 500 with Andretti in 2017, thinks it “would be a great name to add to Formula 1”.
“In F1 there is not much battle between the teams. Even if we have 50 cars on track, we will only fight against one or two drivers, because they have more or less the same package as you,” he qualified, however, adding that he would support the final decision, whoever she is.
Andretti “is a big name and they have shown that they are great professionals so I think it would be good, because it would give more options for the drivers (with two additional seats to fill, Editor’s note). But I can understand that the teams do not want an additional team,” said Max Verstappen, the two-time reigning F1 world champion who should win a third crown this weekend at the Qatar Grand Prix. .
Andretti Global revived its F1 bid earlier this year by announcing a partnership with General Motors to supply Cadillac engines to the proposed team.
The last team to successfully join the F1 paddock was another American team, Haas Racing, in 2016.