Red Bull Advisor Warns of Potential Chaos if Andretti Cadillac’s F1 Entry Gets the Green Light
Helmut Marko Raises Concerns Over Financial and Legal Challenges Amidst Approval Debate
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko insists that the “sport will be the loser” if Andretti Cadillac’s Formula 1 entry is approved by the sport. He predicts financial and management challenges to crop up as a result of the new entry that could eventually end up in a courtroom.
After a long wait, the Andretti-Cadillac bid was approved by the FIA to join the Formula 1 grid. However, the team now has the mountainous task of convincing the sport’s management to accept their entry as the eleventh team. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has openly advocated Andretti’s participation in the sport but on the other hand, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and the rest of the F1 team bosses are of the opinion that the sport does not require an eleventh team.
Marko revealed that the addition of Andretti Cadillac would not only cause other teams to share a piece of their earnings but also emphasized that their monetary values would drop further. Apart from the financial compromise, he also added that several circuits on the F1 calendar don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate an extra team.
Speaking to F1-Insider.com, he said:
“An eleventh team means that not only does each team have to give away more of the money pie, but also that the value of each individual team falls.
“Of course, nobody wants that.
“Most race tracks are maxed out in terms of space. Where are you supposed to put an additional team in the already very narrow pit lanes? In the paddock, you would probably have to reduce the size of the hospitalities. But the teams are not interested in that.”
In addition, an unnamed F1-Insider.com source said that F1 could need a court intervention for a resolution arising from a dispute between Andretti Cadillac and the other teams. Marko added:
“Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem are like cats and dogs.
“The dispute about a possible entry of the Andretti team could now cause the spark to explode.
“There will be a power struggle. It could also end in a court battle lasting many years. The loser will be the sport.”
The dispute could spark if Formula 1 decided to increase the $200 million anti-dilution fee to an unreasonably high figure for Andretti Cadillac to pay. New teams must pay the amount on joining the grid, which is then distributed among the existing teams.
If that wasn’t enough trouble already, Liberty Media is not interested in bowing down to the FIA while the existing teams don’t want to offer a share of the revenues. Thus, making the picture a battleground of some sort.
