Google News Christian Horner on Andretti Global and the reactions of others
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Andretti Global wants to join F1, however, the majority is not in favor of such an option. Only 2 teams out of 10 accepted such a thing. Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner had only words of praise for Andretti, but he believes that there are certain obstacles in everything.
“Look, Andretti is a great brand, a great team,”-Horner said for RACER. “Mario, what he did in Formula 1 — as an American as well — is fantastic. Obviously GM with Cadillac as well would be two phenomenal brands to have in the sport, and I don’t think there can be any dispute about that.
As with all these things though, it ultimately boils down to, ‘Well, who’s going to pay for it?’ And you can assume that the teams, if they’re perceived to be the ones who are paying for it – or diluting their payments to accommodate it — of course it’s not going to sit that well.
The two teams that are supporting it (McLaren and Alpine) either have a partnership in the U.S. with them, or are going to supply them an engine. The other eight are saying, ‘Well hang on, why should we dilute our element of the prize fund?’”
Liberty Media
Horner did not forget to mention Liberty Media either.
It would be interesting if they became part of the F1 story, but Horner is worried about the effect it would have on others. “On the other side you’ve got the Liberty guys saying, ‘Well we’re not going to pay for it, we’re happy with 10 healthy, competitive franchises from an operational perspective — garages, logistics, motorhomes — it’s all more to accommodate.’ I’m sure they would prefer the Audi model, where they come in and acquire an existing franchise.
If you introduce another one or two teams, you dilute the value of the current 10 franchises, which of course teams — particularly down towards the bottom end of the grid — have got a very inflated inherent value at the moment.
I hope a solution can be found. What would be cleaner would be if they were able to take on one of the existing teams or franchises, but they are certainly both great brands that would be very, very welcome in Formula 1”.