Report: FIA to Reject Every F1 Team Application Except Cadillac

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) is expected to reject three applications for new Formula 1 teams with the Cadillac-backed Andretti Global being the only exception.

While Formula 2’s Hitech GP and Rodin Carlin put in bids to graduate to the top-level competition, with the Asian LKYSUNZ also throwing its hat into the ring, reporting from Autosport has suggested that it’ll be Andretti Global getting permission to form the racing series’ 11th team.

From Autosport:

Formula 1 retains the final say on the admittance of a new entry to the grid, with CEO Stefano Domenicali repeatedly stressing that an additional team is not needed unless it brings additional value, while incumbent teams have been cold on the prospect of Andretti expanding its IndyCar and Formula E outfit into grand prix racing.

They believe the current [$200 million] dilution fee that any new team would have to pay to join the grid is insufficient compensation, with opposition to Andretti's entry reaffirmed by several team bosses in Singapore.

An announcement from LKYSUNZ on Friday claimed that it was prepared to pay a dilution fee of $600 million, thanks to backing from a new billionaire investor from Florida. This was met with surprise by employees of existing F1 teams amid speculation that LKYSUNZ staff have been informed it has been turned down by the FIA, prompting them to apply for jobs elsewhere.

Information uncovered by Motorsport-Total.com suggests that LKYSUNZ, Hitech and Rodin Carlin have all been informed that their submitted information was not sufficient for a positive evaluation, although the FIA would not officially confirm this when asked on Friday.

With Formula 1 having wanted to bolster viewership in the United States for years, this almost feels like a foregone conclusion.

In one corner, you have two British teams most Americans have never heard of and one shadowy Pan-Asian entrant nobody seems to know anything about. In the other corner, you have the Andretti family’s multigenerational racing heritage and General Motors — the country's largest automaker by volume.

Gee, I wonder who has the advantage there. Is it America’s favorite multi-generational racing family backed by Cadillac, the Formula 2 outfits nobody outside of Europe would be able to identify, or the mysterious Asian firm that seems to have coalesced from nothing?

While catering to the Asian market is probably something F1 has been thinking about due to the sheer number of people living inside the country, LKYSUNZ probably isn’t the vehicle for that and they seem to pre preoccupied with the United States at the moment.

LKYSUNZ was said to have submitted new documents in the hope that the FIA would revise its assessment. But the deadline has passed and the decision should be final at this point.

"We are still in dialogue with the FIA. But I can't go into details at the moment because we are bound by an NDA which we respect,” explained LKYSUNZ CEO Benjamin Durand.

[Image: FIA]

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