Formula 1 on Wednesday rejected Andretti Global’s long-held bid to join the series in the 2025 or 2026 season, also denying the team’s corporate partner General Motors.
The group’s announcement states that F1 “would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 Championship with a GM power unit,” but adds that the sport’s “research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around.”
In other words, Formula 1 has decided to stick with the interests of its ten current teams over the value of another major competitor with manufacturer-backed ambitions. It is a major split from how the sport has typically aimed for growth, but the sport has become more popular in its Liberty Media-run era and organizers may feel that they no longer need to bring in partners like GM, one of the titans of global automotive sales.
Andretti’s bid started two years ago with a simple announcement of intent. Cadillac joined in January 2023; then GM announced plans to produce powertrains for Andretti and only Andretti if the team was approved. Formula 1’s sanctioning body, the FIA, approved the team after an open application process. The operation had already made hires and begun wind-tunnel testing a car for 2025. None of that was good enough for F1, which chose value to the owners of its existing teams over the most serious new application to enter the sport since Toyota and Honda built their works operations in the 2000s.
Michael Andretti and General Motors have not yet commented on the decision or on the implication that another application could be successful for 2028.