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via Reuters

via Reuters

Andretti Racing team is pushing hard to enter F1 in the coming years. They have faced some resistance from the F1 paddock, but they are not giving up on their dream. There are 2 major hurdles for the American motorsport giants in the form of Mercedes and Red Bull team boss Toto Wolff and Christian Horner.

They have not really been open about the possibility of another significant team joining the grid. The main reason why both Wolff and Horner don’t agree with Andretti entering F1 is the financial situation of the sport.

F1 teams have invited a lot of money into the sport and were affected badly by the pandemic. So Toto and Christian are hesitant to see them lose their advantage in terms of financial gains with another team entering the sport.

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Mercedes team boss reveals important factor behind Andretti’s F1 resistance

Both team bosses are arguably the two most important voices in the F1 paddock. They have the ability to drive the narrative behind the potential entry of Andretti. Wolff stated he sees the advantage of having an American team on the grid but cannot bear the financial losses.

“I am sure that an American team with an American driver would be an advantage. But today we divide the income by ten. All teams have invested considerable sums over the last ten years to get there. If a new team is able to bring us more than it costs, we should sit down and talk about it. So far, that hasn’t been proven,” said Wolff.

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via Reuters

Horner too agreed with his rival and opposed the entry of Andretti. “The 10 licenses have significant value. If we expand to 11 teams, we have to ask ourselves how that will affect the payout to each team. Money is an important factor. But in the end, Liberty has to decide if they want that,” said the Red Bull team boss.

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It is rare to see both rivals agreeing on something in F1, but they are vehemently against the entry of Andretti. So it will be interesting how the American team takes the course from here on. There is still a chance for them to enter the highly sophisticated series, but it might not be as soon as they were hoping for.

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