Formula 1 News: Key meeting between Andretti & FOM scheduled

In an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated’s Lydia Mee, motorsport legend Mario Andretti says key figures from the Andretti Global-Cadillac team will finally sit down with Formula One Management (FOM) to present their case as to why they should accepted as a new team in F1 after being initially rejected.

The F1 governing body had approved the Andretti-Cadillac application.

The 10 existing Formula 1 teams are seeking to reduce the number of teams allowed onto the grid from 12 to 10 in the forthcoming Concorde Agreement, according to reports.

“We’re continuously working on it every day, regardless of what was represented to the press so far,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I think that we have a valid approach to it,” said Andretti.

“The FIA has put us through the ringer, if you will, for us to be able to check all the boxes and we have one more blessing that we need from the FOM, but we’re having a key meeting coming up and hopefully, we have some positive results from that.”

“We have never stopped working from the very beginning. We already have a car in the wind tunnel and so forth. Right now, the objective is to be on a grid in 2026.

“There are so many key elements here to be defined once we have a total, ‘Okay’. Because even personnel, very experienced individuals that want to join us and we have to have a positive ‘yes’ that we’re going to go before we obviously extend a contract.

“Once we get the ‘okay’, we don’t start from scratch. We are already on our way.”

(L to R) Mario Andretti, Dan Towress and Michael Andretti talk to the media at the recent opening of their Silverstone, England facility. Photo courtesy of Andretti Global

Reporter Joe Saward understands that both F1 and the teams within it wish to cap the number of competitors to 10, meaning the only way a new entrant could participate is if they bought an existing entry.

If true, it’s likely Andretti-Cadillac will come out of the scheduled meeting with FOM bosses (assumed to be CEO Stefano Domenicali and someone from Liberty Media like CEO Greg Maffei) disappointed.

We suspect Andretti will be told that in the best interests of the series, the new Concorde Agreement that goes into effect starting with the 2026 season will stipulate that each F1 team must be owned independently. This would force Red Bull to sell their ‘B’ (Visa Cash App RB) and FOM will tell Andretti we would like you to enter F1 by buying that team.

Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner knows this is coming, and Marko has already said they are contemplating selling the team.