$200,000,000 Respite Disregarded as F1’s New Found Success Courtesy $211,000,000,000 Giants Leave Toto Wolff and Others Resisting New Entrants

Andretti’s F1 dream has been hanging in the balance for quite some time now. Having already formally applied to join F1 months ago, Andretti should’ve gotten a response by now. But what’s holding it? Toto Wolff and others are still resisting the entry thanks to the success, courtesy of the $211 Billion giant. Despite being ready to pay the $200 Million respite, the new entrants are being resisted. Let’s dive deeper to find out why. 

F1 is the fastest-growing sport in the world. Toto Wolff recently touched the Billion dollar mark himself all thanks to the popularity in F1 and his stake in Mercedes. The $211 Billion worth of Netflix played a huge role in F1’s success with its Docuseries, Drive to Survive. Still, what does all of this have to do with the entry of Andretti and other new F1 teams? Why are the teams resisting entry?

The same question was put forward during a podcast lately. The host explained how the teams are just protecting their own interests and investments. Taking the example of a pie, he explained how the pie is cut into 10 portions now. With the entry of new teams, the pie will be cut into more pieces, decreasing the portion size per team. However, there’s an anti-dilution fee of $200 million that needs to be paid as per the concord agreement. 

However, the teams think that $200 million just isn’t high enough as the host explained in the Unlapped Podcast: “The teams that exist at the moment have decided that, considering the values[of the existing teams] that have come out recently, that perhaps $200 Million isn’t high enough. The teams that already exist in F1 want to protect the income they have from F1 and don’t particularly want to share it. If we are going to share it, whoever is coming in needs to increase the size.”

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Rumors have been around for a while that the teams have been pushing F1 and FIA to increase the Anti Dilution fee to $600 Million. This amount will be 3X what the current fee is. While the Anti Dilution fees are one aspect of the problem, Christian Horner raised another set of problems. 

Christian Horner raises logistics as another issue for the new F1 entrants

The size of the F1 car has been growing over the years. While the 2022 regulations did decrease the size marginally, the cars are still super wide and long. However, the pitlanes at some historic tracks remain the same. The question now arises, how will the extra team be accommodated at such pitlanes? We’ve already seen cars having difficulty getting out of garages. Adding the new teams will require changes to the pit garages. 

According to Motorsportweek.com, Christian Horner said “So, you know, there are all the financial aspects, but I think beyond that, as well is, with the way that the sport has now developed, if you look at the pit lane, for example, here or somewhere like Monaco, Zandvoort, or some of the circuits that we’re now racing at, where would we be able to accommodate an 11th team? I think that in itself, just operationally, where do we put the motorhomes? Where do we put the support? Where do the trucks go?”

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What do you think? Are F1 teams right in protecting interests and resisting the entry of new teams?