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Cadillac are persevering in their new partnership with Andretti Global following negative reactions to their plans to enter F1.
Last week, Andretti announced their intention to create an all-American team with the help of General Motors, the home of Cadillac.
This came after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed on Twitter that he hoped to launch the “process for prospective new teams”.
Backlash to the Andretti-Cadillac plans
Despite Ben Sulayem’s optimism, many of the current F1 teams did not share the same view.
The immediate opposition led to Michael Andretti criticising teams for their “greed”. From his perspective, this is the main factor driving the negativity towards his plans.
Nevertheless, the new American partnership appears to remain determined. Rory Harvey, Vice President of Cadillac, told Autosport that his company is still “super excited”.
Harvey explained:
“The partnership we discussed last week is what will give us the ability to perform. We believe we have a blend of skillsets across the organisations to put together a package that ensures we will be competitive.”
It has been confirmed that their team would work with a power unit manufacturer that already competes in F1. Many rumours point to Renault for this, leading some to worry that Cadillac will not play as significant a role as fans hoped.
The hurdles to entering a new F1 team
Aside from the need to convince current teams, there is a number of other barriers that Andretti and Cadillac will have to break through.
.@Cadillac @FollowAndretti @GM @FIA @F1 pic.twitter.com/ziVL91FCec
— Mohammed Ben Sulayem (@Ben_Sulayem) January 8, 2023
F1 has consistently had 10 teams on the grid since 2016, when Manor stopped competing.
Firstly, the partnership must submit an Expression of Interest. Other companies wishing to partake in the sport can also do this.
Then, the FIA will carry out an intense process before any new teams can join. It is unclear what this involves, but it is certain to feature strict criteria.
Despite the rigorous application process, Harvey appears undaunted, saying that he and Andretti have a “very good proposition”.
He explained: “We wouldn’t have gone forward in announcing our intent to submit an Expression of Interest if we didn’t think it was a proposition that fulfilled the requirements and give us the ability to succeed.
“From that point of view, there is a long way to go yet in this process. The Expression of Interest and the details have not come out exactly yet, so we have that to go as a first step. We’ll need to submit our Expression of Interest and then see how the process plays out.”
