F1 CEO Voices Support For Toto Wolff’s Controversial Opinion

One of the most prominent Italian-born American names in the history of motorsport, the Andretti family, has been trying their best to be part of the F1 franchise as a team for a while now. However, they’ve been facing a backlash from the top-tier names in the field.

As you might know, this is not the first time the name ‘Andretti’ has been associated with F1. Mario Andretti, a chief in the Andretti Autosport empire, made his Formula 1 debut in 1968 with Lotus. He also drove for Ferrari for a brief time.

He eventually won the F1 Championship in 1978 after returning to Lotus and later on finished first at the 1984 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. His son, Michael Andretti, walked in his footsteps, as he claimed victory in PPG Indy Car World Series in 1991.

Fast forward to the present era, Michael, the Owner of Andretti Autosport, alongside his father, is trying to get their own Formula 1 team. However, several teams are not happy with the said proposal. As per reports, The family even tried to use their resources to buy their way into the sport by taking control over Alfa Romeo. Alas, that fell through as well.

They are now focusing on entering as the 11th team for F1 in the season of 2024.

As much as fans would like more teams and more competition in the sport, Mercedes’ Team Principal, Toto Wolff, has been against this addition. He said, “The value of Formula 1 is that it’s a limited amount of franchises. And we don’t want to dilute that value by just adding teams.”

“Andretti is a great name, and I think they have done exceptional things in the US. But this is sport and this is business and we need to understand what is it that you can provide to the sport,” he added.

In a conversation with motorsport.com, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali backed up Toto Wolff as he said, “Well, I do believe that Toto has a position as team principal.”

“He’s a 30% shareholder of Mercedes, he has a reputation of winning eight [titles] in a row. So I mean his credibility, there’s nothing to add.”

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But what was the reason that the Alfa Romeo Deal fell through?

What Killed The Deal For The Andretti Family?

Word went around that the main reason for the deal to fall through had boiled down to financial issues that the Andretti family was facing. However, Michael cleared the air as he said the reasons were far from finances.

He said, “I’d just like to put an end to some of these rumors that the deal fell through because of financial reasons. It basically came down to control issues in the final hours of the negotiations. That’s what killed the deal.”

He then concluded, saying, “I’ve always said if the deal is not right, we’re not going to do it, and in the end it wasn’t right. So we continue to look for other opportunities.”

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Things aren’t looking up for Michael Andretti, but he’s far from giving up. Will he make another deal with a different team? Or will we see Andretti in F1 as an 11th team? Well, 2024 isn’t that far away. We’ll know soon enough.