“Who’s going to pay for it?” - Horner defends F1 teams’ stance on Andretti

Andretti kicked off 2023 by unveiling their partnership with Cadillac - an American car giant - following FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s push to open an “expressions of interest process”.

While the FIA have been supportive of Andretti’s potential bid, F1 and the teams have mostly been against it.

It all comes down to finances with an 11th team “diluting” the prize pool, meaning the existing 10 constructors will get a smaller share of the pot.

While there is a dilution fund to accommodate for this, where a new team would have to pay $200m to cover for any potential losses.

• Do Andretti finally have what they need to enter F1?

The debate over any new teams coming into F1 will continue to dominate the headlines with a civil war taking place between Liberty Media and the FIA as they look to put their own interests first.

In an interview with RACER, Horner explained the teams’ view on Andretti’s bid and what it “boils down to” - money.

“Look, Andretti is a great brand, a great team,” Horner said. “Mario, what he did in F1— 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?’”

Horner admits that F1 would prefer Andretti to takeover an existing team rather than increase the grid size.

“Then on the other side you’ve got the Liberty (Media) 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," he added.

“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 F1.”