Here is a rundown of what got me thinking..
Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari for the 2025 season. The Japanese Grand Prix has a contract through 2029. NASCAR made the last minute decision to move the Clash up an entire day, and actually drew a respectable crowd on such late notice. Denny Hamlin won the race on a weekend when he became NASCAR's Netflix star, akin to Daniel Ricciardo. The Charter system is up in the air, and that will likely drag into the summer. There has been some two-wheel testing. Williams will be unveiling its 2024 car in New York City today, however, it is something else American-related to Formula One that is on my mind.
Boycotting Will Change Nothing
It was not surprising when the announcement was made that Andretti Global's Formula One bid, in partnership with General Motors, was rejected. For two years, the Andretti organization has been exploring entry into the Formula One grid. What first started as an investigation into purchase Sauber turned into a pursuit to become the 11th team.
For two years, the bid was met regularly with opposition. Current teams dismissed the effort due to its lack of value and potentially watering down the competitiveness of the series. These weren't comments coming from the shadows. You could put faces to the words. Mercedes' Toto Wolff, then-Alfa Romeo's Frédéric Vasseur, Red Bull's Christian Horner, these weren't nobodies, but the spine of the grid, and if they were already saying no, the entry's hope was dead on arrival.
Yet, Andretti persisted, and it answered all the qualms. Lack of value was erased when General Motors was added to the project just over a year ago. One of the biggest automobile companies in the world, GM made $169.73 billion in revenue in 2023 alone, more than Renault, Honda and Mercedes, three companies all currently on the Formula One grid.
When it came to participation, Andretti had outlined its plans to be based out of its global headquarters, a new shop being constructed in Fishers, Indiana, while using GM support from Charlotte, North Carolina and having the race team and design departments in Silverstone, England with use of Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. Andretti had even rolled out a prototype of its car within the week prior to Formula One's rejection. Andretti was committed to running teams in Formula Two and Formula Three as well, a full endeavor into the FIA ladder system, something no other team on the grid does.
The truth is this wasn't about what the report said. This wasn't about value to the grid or competitiveness. It wasn't about Formula One making the Andretti name bigger and not Andretti making the Formula One name bigger. It wasn't about if the circuits could safely accommodate an 11th team, nor was it about power unit supplier.
It was about money.
The anti-dilution fee for a new team was set at $200 million when the current Concorde Agreement was signed in August 2020. Little did the current teams and FIA expect the series to boom as much as it did in the wake of the pandemic. The value of each team has soared, and the $200 million price tag quickly became a bargain.
Enter Andretti, or at least attempt to enter. Ready to pay $20 million to each existing team, the ten current competitors realized $20 million would not offset the revenue lost from splitting the pie an 11th way. Last year, word was the teams were attempting to triple the fee to $600 million, still well short of what they would have liked but still significantly more than what was already set as the price.
If the teams got the price they wanted, Andretti would have been welcomed with open arms. Forget General Motors. Forget competitive relevance. If the buy-in was $2 billion, Andretti would be on the grid this March with a current IndyCar if it wanted. That price was never realistic, nor would it ever happen considering it was already set at $200 million.
In the wake of Andretti's rejection, there has been a vocal push to boycott Formula One from this side of Atlantic, especially from those who consider themselves as more seasoned race fans.
Go ahead. It isn't going to change anything.
For starters, you know you aren't going to be able to look away. We are all masochists. We cannot afford to not be informed, and as much as we say otherwise, we know Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports. That is why all the money and all the glamour is there. Lie all we want, we are going to continue to watch. There will be a tribal instinct to do so. In the polarization of the viewership, it is viewed as ours, even as a new batch of viewers come in, something we always wished for. Be careful of what you wish for.
Formula One isn't going to see a sharp reaction from the United States viewers and realize it made a mistake and walk back on its decision. There is the harsh truth that a growing number of viewers in this country do not care that Andretti was rejected from joining the grid. That segment of the audience probably didn't even know there was a bid for another American team to join the series. Because of that segment of the audience, Formula One is not going to lose anything.
Formula One is here and it knows there are plenty of people willing to pay $800 for an obstructed view and a half-eaten ham sandwich in a Miami parking lot. There are even more that will pay $2,000 for no view of the track in Las Vegas. There aren't enough wallets to walkaway for the damage to be noticeable.
It is upsetting a good-natured attempt to enter the world championship has been thwarted from those already participating, and it is an objection of the series we have know for nearly 75 years. But this is the 21st century, and capitalism is king. These teams know their worth and they know what they would lose with an additional team. These aren't the days of the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s when no one truly realized how much money was coming into Formula One... except for Bernie Ecclestone.
This isn't the Formula One of racing dreams who believe the right combination of engineering can lead to a grand prix winning entry that no one sees coming. We had the teams of 16 teams and pre-qualifying and teams eight seconds off the pace. It was the best of times. It was the worst of time.
What we have now is teams that know their worth and know how far the dollar goes. They aren't giving up a cent. Gone are the old days. These teams are highly sought organizations. Sponsors want to be in the series. With the budget caps, these teams no longer can go hog wild spending. More money in and less money out makes these possibly money-making endeavors. The landscape of the sport has changed, and everyone in now is going to protect what it has.
It is a creul reality, and it isn't going to change anytime soon. Go ahead of boycott. When has that ever stopped a series dead in its tracks? There is nothing you could have done to changed it. Unless you had a spare billion dollar to loan Andretti.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Denny Hamlin, but did you know...
Jett Lawrence won the Supercross race from Detroit. Austin Forkner won in the 250cc class.
The #99 99 Racing Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Ahmad Al Harty and Nikita Mazepin won the 4 Hours of Dubai. The #17 Cool Racing Ligier-Nissan of James Winslow and Alexander Buknatsov won the LMP3 class. The #91 Pure Rxcing Porsche of Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm won the GT class.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Asian Le Mans Series closes out its season with a doubleheader in Abu Dhabi.
Supercross is in Glendale.
