Andretti's automotive partner, General Motors, commented on F1's refusal to allow the Andretti Cadillac team to join the team until 2028 at the earliest.
At the end of January, F1 released a statement saying that despite the FIA's approval of the American team having passed initial review, the sport's commercial rights holder is currently unable to field fast-rising Andretti Cadillac on the grid. I confirmed that I have no interest in it.
Michael Andretti's Andretti, which has a partnership with auto giant General Motors through its Cadillac brand, has not given up on the project and is preparing to enter the business in 2026.
General Motors responds to F1 rejection
The lengthy rejection letter issued by F1 calls into question the project's potential competitiveness and calls for Andretti to put in place regulatory provisions forcing existing engine suppliers to provide engines until Cadillac has a power unit ready. Likely to be used with emphasis.
However, F1 has left a small olive branch extended, indicating that Andretti and Cadillac could be interested in the grid if Cadillac could have a power unit available for use by Andretti and other customer teams. .
Jim Campbell, General Motors' vice president of performance and motorsports, also commented on the matter following Andretti's statement following F1's refusal.
Campbell said that Andretti, as well as GM, had full confidence that Andretti could develop a competitive car from the get-go, contrary to F1's claims.
“In terms of the Andretti application, we are very happy with the application,” Campbell said. As quoted by Motorsport.comfrom Daytona.
“The FIA has given our application a vote of confidence and approval after weighing it against other applicants.
“So, naturally, FOM has issued a statement and we are seeking a follow-up meeting with FOM so we will resolve it.
“We believe we have the ability between Andretti and Cadillac to deliver a competitive entry.
“We are not saying it will be easy, but between our two organizations there are examples in our history of success in other motorsport categories, and that is Same goes for Cadillac and Andretti.
“Having said that, our joint team continues to develop our car at a rapid pace. So that's where we're at.”
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General Motors is “confident in Andretti and Cadillac's adaptability and capabilities.”
F1's rejection letter suggests Andretti and Cadillac underestimated the scope of the engineering and sport challenges ahead, especially with a different ruleset planned for 2026 Campbell said GM was not insulted by F1's stance.
“As I said, we believe in the application we submitted,” he said.
“And that application articulated the capabilities of both Andretti as a race team and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity.
“We are therefore confident in this application and are seeking an interview with FOM.”
However, given F1's indications that the team's entry could be approved based on Cadillac's readiness, Campbell said that regulations set by the FIA, which approved the entry, meant that Cadillac would not be able to get its engines into production until 2028. He said that he was unable to bring forward the schedule for preparations.
“There is a deadline to register as a power unit, and in our case it was June last year, towards 2028,” he said.
“If we wanted to develop the engine faster, we had to register it the previous year. So this is just a regulation.”
Andretti's latest official statement confirmed that work “continues well” to have the car ready for entry as early as 2026.
“We were not aware that the request for a meeting had been extended and we had no intention of declining a meeting with F1 management,” it said in a statement.
“Face-to-face meetings to discuss commercial matters remain of paramount importance to Andretti Cadillac.
“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with F1 management and have sent a letter confirming our interest.”
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