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Michael Andretti's hopes have been dashed

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Jenna Fryer/AP

Formula 1 has rejected Andretti Global's request to enter the competition in 2025 or 2026. The racing series said this on Wednesday, but admitted that it would be prepared to revisit the issue later if General Motors then had a competitive engine.

General Motors, with its Cadillac brand, had agreed to support Michael Andretti's push to enter the world's best racing series - an application that was unwelcome to most of the ten existing teams and F1 management.

Unlike the world automobile association Fia, which had fueled the hopes of former racing driver Michael Andretti, the Formula 1 leadership came to the conclusion that an eleventh team would not be of any use to the racing series from next year. "We do not believe that the applicant would be a competitive participant," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Andretti was already working on the car's design

Although the name Andretti has a certain level of recognition among Formula 1 fans, "our research shows that Formula 1 is more likely to bring value to the Andretti brand than the other way around," explained the management of the racing series. Andretti had already published pictures of a car in the former Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. The design has been in progress there since October.

Formula 1 also justified the decision with the major engine rule reform from 2026. Building a car and engine for just 2025 and thus being competitive, and then producing a completely new drive for 2026, was considered practically hopeless. In two years, half of the engines will be combustion engines and half will be electric, and they will also run on 100 percent sustainable fuel.

Formula 1 still sees an opportunity for Andretti to get started, but only in four years. Then General Motors wants to cooperate with Andretti in the racing series as an independent engine supplier.

The current teams were skeptical about the plans from the start. You would then have to share the proceeds with another racing team. A newcomer currently has to pay around 189 million euros in compensation, which is distributed among the existing teams. However, the racing teams are pushing for this payment to be increased significantly.

mrk/dpa/AP