Other teams applied to be in F1 in the past, and were turned down ; they didn't use their government to force Liberty to accept them. I cannot see the logic of the US Congress dictating that one of his nationals should be accepted. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a wallnut !! Everything worked OK, until Andretti used Congress' power to gets what he wants. Michael Andretti may get in, but he will become the pariah in the paddock, methink ...
Andretti met all the requirements and were told yes by the organization that controlled the entry. The denial is uncompetitive. If F1 wants to operate in the States (and remember, Liberty is a US company) it has to operate within the law. What this is, what this has always been, is Euros who love American dollars but hate Americans.
Initially Andretti was wrongly told by Mohamed Ben Sulayem, the new elected FIA president, that he met the requirements. But the FIA doesn't hold the Commercial Rights of F1, which belong to FOM, presently operated by Liberty. Liberty turned down the application on financial grounds, with the support of most of the existing teams who had signed the Concorde Agreement dealing with the distribution of profit, the dilution fee, etc ... Since, Mohamed Ben Sulayem, has told Andretti that he wasn' accepted, acknowledging that he didn't have the power to introduce a new team against the wishes of the existing ones. Liberty's position is that, although there was provision in the statute for 12 teams, only 10 teams accepted the terms at the time by signing the Concorde Agreement. The terms cannot be changed during the duration of the Agreement which I believe is 10 years. The Concorde Agreement will be reviewed in a few years time (2026, I Think), and this will be the time for Andretti to make his application. I cannot see why a government should muscle its way in what look a civil business matter, mostly when a solution is in sight. I will ignore your comment about Europeans hating Americans; it's not worth a discussion.
Andretti was referred by the FIA. They do not control entry as the final stop. They were denied by FOM. Thats a stated public process. In fact others were denied by the FIA and are taking no action but were as well qualified from what is in the press. The favoritism shown to Andretti by FIA leadership was overt. They have to prove who was harmed. No one was harmed, the business is thriving and has no competition from the outside. This is not Google or Intel dominating a market among other competitors LOL. An inquiry being opened does not equal a guilty verdict. Its exactly what Congress blabs about in the US press. Over-reach and weaponized government against business and citizens. This is an Andretti whining session. F1 owes nothing to the Andretti's. They were told no and now they are in tantrum mode LOL. Its pathetic. Reverse this and tell me how you would feel if a new entrant was denied from Europe. The door was left open for 2026. Andretti is not happy witth that either. They are the joke here not FOM.
Unlike other professional sports organizations in the U.S.…..which, by the way, F1 more closely resembles every day…F1 has not been granted semi-monopolistic status, nor special tax status. Those bodies have different ownership structure than F1. F1 and/or its associated organizations may set limits on the number of participants as they wish, but unlike NFL, MLB, etc., those limits may be subject to litigation or regulatory scrutiny since they are not protected. John Malone is exactly the kind of guy that grandstanding politicians and authoritarian bureaucrats love to challenge; it’s free advertising for the former and job justification for the latter. If this actually gains traction in congress I would expect Liberty to shed F1 within three years. And as far as I can tell the Saudis are the only ones who can afford it.
You sound like you're assuming the story (written by the publisher himslef, I think) is true, but citing BusinessF1 as the source just makes it too easy to rebut the claim about Maffei. I have to admit, though, that plenty of the congressmen involved are more than happy to peddle lies. Your second paragraph is all spot-on, of course.
I find there are less piranhas in F1 now than before with Max Mosley, Bernie Ecclestone, Ron Dennis, Flavio Briatore, Frank Williams, etc ... F1 is more "corporate" these days, and most team leaders put their financial interests at the forefront of decisions, rather than personal ego.
Not sure I see much in the way of "good for the sport" versus "good for me/my team". Personal ego seems to quite prevalent with all the sniping of Horner, Toto, and Zak.
Piranhas are more interesting…and should be more valued….in competitive environments than corporate drones are.
To a team principle there is almost no distinction between a) "good for the sport" and b) "good for me/my team"
What is the actual purpose of the summer break? If no one is supposed to be working, how to they enforce that...put a bug in everyones laptops?
I am pretty certain they do monitor that the factories are shut down. Most countries in Europe are really good about taking a long holiday in August anyway, it's just what they do.
Because of the growth F1 has had in the US in the last 4-5 years, the value of every team has well exceeded everyone teams expectations. Claire Williams is probably kicking herself for not somehow figuring out how to keep the team going a couple more seasons as I believe Williams' is valued at something like 3-4x more than it's sold amount to Dorrelton. I am not saying F1 owes something to the US, but be reasonable, none of the teams would be in the healthy position they're benefiting from without the US cash-cow races, Netflix, and the US economy which is easily the top buyer for all luxury goods out of the EU in the first place, and now you're saying, "no, we don't have enough money to split the pot 11 ways"? Give me a break, the pot is larger than it's ever been, and every team on the grid has experienced a massive bump in their worth thanks to the growth in the US, and the US races are cash-cow events paying for legacy circuits such as Spa etc which barely break even. I hope Congress lays the paddle in a major public and embarrassing manner, and I hope Netflix covers it all. This wreaks of EU blue-blood elitism terrified that GM's involvement with a properly funded US team would eventually bring the WCC or WDC, or both, to US soil, and that is terrifying to these guys. This reminds me a bit of the US restorations shops that have a, challenging, relationship with Ferrari and their classiche program, since it came into existence that is. The US based shops are absolutely some of the best in the world, if not the best and have been since long before classiche existed, their cars cannot be classiche certified though. Classiche doesn't do the work themselves anyway, but the badge engineering of the program and the value some cars have with the classiche certification unfortunately can't be denied now despite the restoration quality of other arguably superior long-standing shops.
Williams(Claire) was heavily leveraged and it was doomed at the start of the turbo-hybrid formula. She(Claire) couldn't react fast enough to the change of times in F1. The team was doomed. She probably didn't have the business sense to fire and run a lean F1 team. When she started noticing the team was in the red, she should have made a drastic decision. She should have followed the "HAAS F1 Model" in order to survive in F1. That's my 2 cents.
Long before that, Frank Williams should have sold to BMW when Mario Thyssen made the offer on their behalf. The days of independent teams were already gone by then. Ken Tyrrell had understood that ! Without constructor support, Williams quickly declined after the split.
True, I think Frank let his pride get in the way of making that decision. They did keep it afloat for awhile but what really killed them was the turbo-hybrid formula. It wasn't just Williams that was in decline, but Marussia along with Caterham as well. I believe HRT was before the turbo hybrid formula when they folded.
There was also Patrick Head in the equation; I think he was 50/50 partner with Frank Williams in the team at that time. There was a clash of egos between Head (CTO) and Mario Thyssen (BMW engineer) that led to bad blood. BMW offered Williams to buy the team outright, but he refused, probably because of Head. BMW walked away.
The best one can say about Claire Williams is that she was the best looking team principle of her era.
