“I will be cheering for you!” Michael Andretti exclaimed after Cadillac finally got the green light to enter F1. It was a small message that could barely cover the troubles the Andretti family faced in the battle to enter the sport where his father had won the championship in 1978. His effort to get a program partnered with General Motors into F1 was approved last week, but only after Andretti stepped aside from leading his race teams. Also, Andretti partners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter took a controlling interest in the effort.

This dwindling presence of Andretti came to fruition, although the FIA president, Muhammed Ben Sulayem, put a veil on it.

Michael Andretti’s efforts remain one-sided

Despite F1 flatly denying their entry in 2025, he continued its aggressive push to join for 2026. Andretti opened a UK base in Silverstone and signed former F1 technical director Pat Symonds as a consultant. Michael Andretti will look on as his project gets wings without him. While he will have no role with the F1 team, his father, 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti, will be on the board of the F1 team and an ambassador.

Ben Sulayem tried to sugarcoat the situation, snuffing any personal motive to exclude Andretti. “I feel he should be proud because he’s the founder who started this thing with his partners. We did the proper due process. We never favored anyone, and it is only because his application ticked all the boxes that the FIA approved it. Michael is a lovely person and I do not feel this was personal against Michael Andretti.”

Earlier in the F1 season, the paddock was rife with news of F1’s owners, Liberty Media, rejecting Andretti’s entry. They felt the Andretti name would not be a competitive team. It was all that fans talked about. A team with the name of a legendary motorsports family did not get the treatment it deserved, as F1 legends believed. At the time, the FIA President gave them some advice. He believed it would be better for Andretti to take the Audi route. Buy an existing team and then take over its operations, keeping the status quo at 10 teams, despite agreeing on the value the 11th team could bring.

Indeed, Michael Andretti had time and again got into the bad books of F1 due to his outspoken nature. Around the 2024 Miami GP, the message from the Andretti family explicitly stated how Greg Maffei told him his son’s team would never enter the sport.

However, the FIA president rubbished this as the reason for Andretti’s absence. “It was only a matter of time before General Motors was going to be approved and I feel it is incorrect to say it happened because Michael stepped aside. What did Michael do? Why would people not want him? Because he spoke publicly? He didn’t break any rules. He didn’t abuse anyone. If people want to see it as personal, it is up to them. He doesn’t annoy me.”

However, something else annoyed Ben Sulayem and that may have played into this decision.

The court matter complicated things

Ever since Michael Andretti set forth to etch his family name in F1, Ben Sulayem has been a steadfast supporter. “To say no to an American OEM. It’s very hard. On the contrary, it’s good for business,” he said in 2023. However, things became rough between him and the F1 management and owner Liberty Media, as the latter did not want Andretti. The commercial rights holder felt Andretti would not bring added benefits to the F1 championship.

Several US senators and representatives challenged F1’s rejection on legal grounds by invoking anti-trust laws. The Justice Department investigation launched this summer, not long after Mario Andretti visited Washington to discuss the F1 snub with lawmakers. The FBI allegedly interviewed Ben Sulayem at last month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. “It is the department that protects the interest of the United States and the FIA has nothing to hide,” Ben Sulayem said. “I was proud to speak to them and they were very polite and understanding. I wanted this to be cleared: I wanted GM in F1 because it is good for business.”

Although the court case reached Andretti Global to F1, it had to leave Michael Andretti behind. Let us wait for the American team to unveil on F1’s grid next year.