Amid Struggles With Massive $700,000,000 Headache, Lewis Hamilton & Co. Hand Thumping Defeat to Andretti After Brutal Penalty

As time is passing, Michael Andretti’s dream of floating an F1 team is looking more far-fetched. The Andretti family even got Cadillac on board to prove their commitment. Since then, the stakeholders of the sport, particularly the team principals, have continued to shift the post. The American motorsport giant suffered another setback recently. This time at the hands of Lewis Hamilton.

As per the Concorde Agreement currently in place, any team looking to join F1 needs to compensate the incumbent teams with a $200 million fee. That fee is in place to make sure that the existing teams do not suffer a loss owing to the dilution a new entrant will cause in the share of prize money. However, the popularity of F1 has grown multifold since the current Concorde Agreement came into force. Citing that, many teams have made a demand of $700 million from any team looking to enter the sport. That includes Andretti too.

Lewis Hamilton and his team hands a big defeat to Michael Andretti’s team

Extreme-E is a unique motor sporting series that houses teams owned by many autosport giants. Lewis Hamilton is one of those and had a team named X44 in the series. His former Mercedes teammate-rival Nico Rosberg has one as well, and so does Jenson Button. Andretti Autosport, which has a team in almost every major car racing championship, has a pretty strong team in Extreme-E as well.

As per a report from The Sun, Andretti Altawkilat lost round 3 of the Hydro X Prix in Scotland to Hamilton’s X44. That was despite them finishing ahead of them. It was a penalty that saw X44’s Fraser McConnell and Cristina Gutierrez take the win on Saturday’s final. Hamilton celebrated the win by uploading an Instagram Story with McConnell and Gutierrez in it. In the Story, he simply wrote, “Another W”.

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As much as every defeat hurts, this one will not hurt as much as the pain the agony of not hearing by F1 is causing Michael Andretti. The entire family gathered last year to break the ground for a new ultra-modern facility that is under construction to house the factory for their race car manufacturing.

The $200 million facility that will put Ferrari’s Maranello factory to shame

Last year in December, the Andretti family gathered and invited dignitaries from Indiana to break the ground for their new $200 million facility. As per IndyStar, the 575,000 sq.ft. premises will also house a restaurant with the Andretti family’s own select recipes on the menu. It will also have an amphitheater that will screen races for the fans to enjoy.

Speaking during the ceremony, former F1 champion, Mario Andretti promised the facility will be “bigger than Ferrari’s”. During the event, the media also asked Michael when he was expecting to hear from F1 about the prospects of him fielding an 11th team. “We’re hoping in the next couple weeks. That would sure be a nice Christmas present,” Michael replied.

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Christmas has long gone. No new significant development has come to light since then. For now, it looks like the negotiations are completely on hold.