Wolff reveals teams 'stuck' together on F1 future amid potential Andretti entry

Zak Brown and Toto Wolff — Photo: © LAT Images

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Wolff reveals teams 'stuck' together on F1 future amid potential Andretti entry

The American team is inching closer to FIA approval despite the discontent of the rest of the grid

Luis Raya

Tuesday 19 September 2023 21:57

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Many team bosses have opposed Andretti's potential entry into F1 due to the impact on their business models when it comes to prize money distribution.

For a long time, there has been talk of the entry of an 11th team to the grid, eagerly anticipated by many fans seeking more competition. Earlier this year, the FIA opened a registration process for new teams, in which Andretti appears to be the leading candidate to become a new team, submitting an application to join the grid in 2025 or 2026.

Michael Andretti's team has the support of General Motors' Cadillac brand, and after months of thorough analysis of their proposal, the American outfit has met all the criteria ranging from technical and financial capability to the environmental sustainability of their project, demonstrating that they have the capacity to participate in the category.

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The Concorde Agreement allows for up to 12 teams on the grid, but many team principals have opposed the entry of a new outfit.

“I think why F1 and the teams have survived in the last years is because we all stuck together,” said Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff to Motorsport.com.

“The FIA, FOM and the 10 teams, we need to protect the sport. We’re holding this sensitive sport that’s growing at the moment in our hands.

“And that’s why the right decisions need to be taken all of us together, when it comes to, let’s say, a mindset and then obviously the FIA and F1 when it comes to these decisions, because it’s out of the teams’ hands." He added: "But I would hope that [FIA president] Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and Stefano will take the right decisions for F1.”

Other team principals like Zak Brown, Guenther Steiner, and Alessandro Alunni Bravi have also supported Wolff's words, expressing their opposition to the entry of a new team onto the grid.

"I believe our perspective has not changed, and we will wait to see how the process unfolds," said Brown. "The only thing I would say is that the value of a Formula 1 team and an entry into what it was five years ago, the sport is worth much more now, so I think it needs to be discussed."

The impact of a new team on the grid

Numerous team principals have spoken out against a new team on the grid

The impact of a new team on the grid goes beyond raising competition; it would also affect the distribution of prize money and revenue sharing among teams.

The Concorde Agreement signed by the teams in 2020 stipulates that a new team on the grid would have to pay a fee of $200 million, distributed among the existing 10 teams, which would amount to $20 million for each team.

However, team principals argue that the $20 million each existing team would receive represents a loss of prize money due to the addition of a new team, making it not financially viable for any of them.

They believe that since 2020, the rapid growth Formula 1 has experienced, along with market changes, has significantly increased the value of a team on the grid.