Michael Andretti is having a terrible time attempting to break back into the world of Formula 1.
Andretti, the 1991 CART champion son of 1978 F1 world champion Mario, has been trying to prise his way into the sport for more than a year but has been perpetually rebuffed.
First his attempt to buy Sauber fell flat. Then the sport offered him a lukewarm response to a request to enter as a new constructor.
After some injudicious commentary over the off-season and a technical sponsorship announcement that failed to impress, the existing teams are now turning outright hostile.
Having failed to dissuade him with words, they’re now targeting his wallet in a move that’s sure to fire up the American racer.
He won’t be able to buy AlphaTauri as a fallback option either, with Franz Tost refuting rumours that his team could be put up for sale after a dismal ninth-place finish last season.
Meanwhile, Alpine has raised queries about potential loopholes in the cost cap rules just months after Red Bull Racing became the first team to be found in breach of the financial regulations.
TEAMS PUSHING FOR EYE-WATERING JOINING FEE FOR NEW ENTRANTS
Formula 1 teams are agitating for a massive increase to the US$200 million (A$296 million) joining fee for new entrants after the FIA opened expressions of interest to join the grid.
According to Autosport, the 10 teams want to at least triple that figure to US$600 million (A$890 million), with some pushing for an even higher figure still.
If agreed, the almost $1 billion figure would surely dent Michael Andretti’s bid to join the sport as a new constructor.
As part of the commercial agreement between F1 management and the 10 teams, any new entrant is required to pay a joining fee of US$200 million (A$296 million). That money is distributed evenly among the existing teams to compensate them for having to split the prize pot with an 11th constructor.
The US$200 million price was set in 2020 to reflect the price for which Williams was sold to current owner Dorilton Capital — that is, the approximate market value of a midfield team.
But perceived team value has skyrocketed since then, particularly with the introduction of the cost cap and considering the booming interest in the sport.
Autosport has reported that the US$600 million figure is believed to be closer to the price agreed last year for Audi to buy Sauber.
Teams also remain unconvinced by the value of Andretti’s bid as an independent constructor. Though the American racing mogul has since announced an engine partnership with Cadillac, Renault has confirmed it would supply him with power units if he were handed an entry, which has led to speculation General Motors is undertaking little more than a badging and sponsorship exercise rather than genuinely entering the sport.
Earlier this year Andretti blasted the teams for being “greedy”.
“It’s all about greed and looking at themselves and not looking at what is best for the overall growth of the series,” he told Forbes.
On Wednesday the sport reported £2 billion (A$3.56 billion) in revenue, of which the teams received approximately $1.7 billion as prize money. According to some estimates, that spans roughly $200 million and $130 million from top to bottom on the championship table.
ALPHATAURI REJECTS SALE RUMOURS
AlphaTauri principal Franz Tost has rebuffed reports in the German media that Red Bull is considering selling the team.
Auto Motor und Sport reported that Oliver Mintzlaff, who took over Red Bull’s sporting properties following the death of company founder Dietrich Mateschitz, was dissatisfied that the team was costing money to finish ninth while Red Bull Racing was profitable and winning the title.
The report suggested Red Bull was considering moving AlphaTauri to the UK to be closer to Red Bull Racing or selling it completely.
Tost, however, hit back in a short statement denying that the team was at risk of sale.
“I had some very good meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who confirmed that the shareholders will not sell Scuderia AlphaTauri, and that Red Bull will continue supporting the team in the future,” he said.
“All these rumours have no foundation, and the team has to remain focused for the start of the season to perform better than last year.”
Tost did not address speculation that Red Bull might uproot the team from its historic Faenza headquarters in Italy to be closer to the senior team, where greater technological exchange could lead to cost savings.
AlphaTauri already has a UK aerodynamics base in the UK comprising more than 100 staff. The team uses Red Bull Racing’s Milton Keynes wind tunnel.
ALPINE WARNS OF COST CAP LOOPHOLE
Alpine principal Otmar Szafnauer has called on the FIA to stay alert to potential loopholes in the cost cap as teams learn their way around the financial regulations in their third year of operation.
Szafnauer said he was increasingly concerned about the company structures being employed by some teams that could potentially obscure spending and lead to a performance benefit.
Several teams have invested structures to make their spending more efficient under the cost cap. For example, a team might employ staff through an advanced technology business that works on both the F1 car but also unrelated projects, with the cost of full-time employment under the cost cap applied pro rata depending on the work they do.
The financial regulations cover these structures by mandating a minimum cost for various services and parts, but Szafnauer believes they could foster the development of a loophole that would allow teams to spend above the cap.
“When you look at corporate structures, that is massive,” he said, per RaceFans. “If you only have 68, 70 people in the racing team and the rest of the 900 are outside of it and apportioning costs, that’s the kind of stuff we have to worry about.
“If you have a great F1 idea because you’re working on something else, how do you account for the stuff that you thought of when you were working on something else?”
“Developing tools, for example, for a boat, but that tool then applies to F1 and you’ve spent loads of investment on developing the tool and then you largely account for it in F1.
“That’s the kind of stuff we have to start thinking about to stop.
“There comes a time where — [with] all these ancillary businesses that are now cropping up, that without a budget cap wouldn’t be there — we’ve got to look at that and make sure that the loopholes aren’t big enough to where effectively we don’t have a cap.”
