Even doubling the entry fee to $400 million may not be enough to guarantee Andretti a place on the Formula One grid.
Even doubling the entry fee to $400 million may not be enough to guarantee Andretti a place on the Formula One grid.
Michael Andretti was a McLaren driver in 1993 and now leads one of America's best-known motorsport empires. And yet Formula One, the FIA, and most of the existing teams are not enthusiastic about opening the paddock gates to an eleventh team.
Renault-owned Alpine, however, has offered to work with Andretti as a technical and engine partner. "We have spoken to Michael, but first he needs to get into Formula One," team boss Otmar Szafnauer told Speed Week magazine.
Initially, a colossal $200 million fee was required for a new entrant, but rival teams now say that is not enough to make up for the diluted revenue cake.
Roger Benoit, the well-connected veteran journalist who writes for the Swiss newspaper Blick, believes that doubling the fee to $400 million will not be enough. Andretti, son of F1 legend Mario, expressed his frustration in a recent interview with GQ magazine, describing F1 as a "European club" with a "very snobbish approach."
Gunther Steiner, head of F1's only current American team, criticized Andretti for making such remarks. "I don't know what he is trying to achieve with these comments," he said in Austria.
"It's not really our decision to give him a license or not, you know. We have an opinion, but I don't think we can decide that. We don't know what he presented to the FIA and the FOM, but in my opinion those comments are not constructive, but you live by your choices," Steiner added.