US House Judiciary Committee presses F1 for answers over Andretti block

In brief

Committee challenges F1’s decision to block Andretti

The House Committee on the Judiciary has written to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei and FOM president Stefano Domenicali seeking an explanation for why Andretti has not been allowed to enter the world championship. FOM rejected Andretti’s bid in January, three months after it was approved by the FIA.

The letter challenged several aspects of FOM’s refusal to allow Andretti to enter. “The excuses put forward for denying Andretti Cadillac’s entry appear to be pretextual, arbitrary, and unrelated to Andretti Cadillac’s suitability to compete in Formula One,” it stated.

“For example, Formula 1 alleged that a new team could only add value to Formula One by ‘competing for podiums and race wins.’ However, the FIA had already analysed — and approved of — the technical capabilities of Andretti Cadillac to compete among current teams, and most current teams in Formula 1 do not meet Formula 1’s standard of regularly competing for ‘podiums and race wins.’

“Formula 1 also faulted Andretti Cadillac for attempting to use an existing engine manufacturer because it could ‘be damaging to the prestige and standing of’ Formula 1. At the same time, however, Formula One stated that if Andretti Cadillac used a new engine manufactured by General Motors in the team’s first year, a new engine would create a challenge for the new team. Formula 1 cannot have it both ways.”

The committee requested FOM supply a raft of documents relating to its handling of Andretti’s application within two weeks.

Miami GP attracts record US audience

Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix attracted the largest ever live television audience for a Formula 1 race in America, according to broadcaster ESPN. The grand prix programme attracted 3.1 million viewers, breaking the record of 2.6m set by the same race two years earlier. A peak of 3.6m was recorded.

Miami results “stings” – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles said the team’s performance in the Miami Grand Prix “stings and hurts” after they fell to ninth in the constructors’ championship. “We’ve dropped back a position in the championship,” he said in a video released by the team. “The points gap isn’t large, but it’s still a point in favour of Alpine and not towards us.

“I’m really happy for Norris. It’s an incredible win by him, really happy for McLaren as well. It’s great to see the progress they’ve made. It’s inspirational in regard to the journey we have to take as well.

“Days like today hurt. But that pain is only useful in order to rebuild and remember the journey. They journey isn’t one year, I’ve been clear on that from the beginning, it’s many years. But irrespective that doesn’t ease the pain of walking away from a race with a car that was reasonably good without any points.”

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Gasly feels “more in the fight”

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Pierre Gasly said Andretti’s first top 10 finish of the season in Miami, scored by his team mate Esteban Ocon, gives them cause for optimism about the coming races.

“I must say it does feel like we can be a bit more in the fight,” he told the official F1 channel. “We have a bit more control over the race and what happens.

“I was able to pull some great moves even on Fernando [Alonso] at the start of the race. There were there were some good fights out there. So we’ll keep, keep improving and overall we’re going in the right direction.”

Van der Linde in for Mueller

Kelvin van der Linde will substitute for Nico Mueller in this weekend’s Formula E double-header in Berlin. Mueller is driving for Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship.

https://www.abt-sportsline.com/motorsport-news/detail/abt-cupra-with-new-driver-pairing-at-home-race-in-berlin

Ronhaar doubles up

Sauber’s Thomas Ronhaar led the way as the F1 Esports series resumed, winning both of yesterday’s Racing on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Interlagos circuits. The series continues today with races on the Losail International Circuit and Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Links

Motor Racing links of interest:

Andretti still optimistic about F1 plans, but hoping for clarity from FOM (Racer)

‘I was 100 percent surprised, I stay out of that. I’m just here to build the team and that’s what I’m doing, but for sure it’s great to have people like them looking at what’s going on and getting behind us.’

Pourchaire gets first oval opportunity with test (IndyCar)

‘I’m really happy (but) really tired mentally as well, because it’s going super quick. And you don’t want to do a mistake on a track like this. If you do a small mistake you can end up in the wall. And we all know that ending up in the wall in an oval is really dangerous. But I enjoyed it. It’s been a pretty good day. The pace was good.’

Competitive order could evolve as teams’ understanding grows, says F2 technical director Michot (Formula 2)

‘We’re happy with how the car has performed. When we see the times from Barcelona, we were faster than last year, so it’s going in the direction we wanted to go.’

Dries Vanthoor: ‘We are experiencing a golden era’ (WEC)

‘For sure, we are not yet happy of where we are but if, at the end of the season, we can be close to Porsche and Ferrari, we can be very happy with the work we did. We have to take this season as a testing to be able to fight for next year.’

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