Soon after the 2021 Formula 1 season, Mohammed Ben Sulayem was elected as the president of the FIA. Since then, he has approved Andretti Motorsport to enter as an 11th team in F1. While the FOM is yet to approve, the president has opened up about what he went through in the past few months.
It was no secret that Andretti has been trying to make their way into Formula 1 for a long time. However, they have been unsuccessful so far. Until this year, they were never able to get the approval of the FIA. When they submitted the bid this year, Mohammed Ben Sulayem underwent a lot from other teams.
Without pointing a finger at a specific individual or organization, and making reference in his initial remarks to the death of his son, Saif, in a car crash in Dubai in early March, he said: “I went through hell!
“I’m asking myself, ‘What did I do to deserve all of this attack in February and March? They attacked me, the day I opened the expression of interest. Even when my son died, they attacked me, abused me, just to break me, just because I opened for the whole world to enter.
📰: FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem under fire for Andretti F1 bid. Ben Sulayem stands firm, citing personal struggles after son’s death. Defends Andretti’s grid presence amid criticism and discusses heightened driver fines.#F1#MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/6xNyeJFNY2
— F1 Naija (@f1_naija) October 26, 2023
“It was unnecessary, counterproductive, not good for business. They can say whatever they want. At the end of the day, I was elected to take care of the sport. Nothing goes into my pocket. We don’t have shareholders, we don’t have a board of directors to share the money, so my mission is different than theirs. That’s very clear.”
The sport and the teams have a Concorde agreement. The agreement allows the sport to have up to 12 teams. Since Andretti Motorsport met all the requirements to be an 11th team in F1, they were approved by Ben Sulayem and the FIA.
Why are the F1 teams against Andretti as 11th team?
The prize money in F1 is not like in the other sport. Out of the total revenue, F1 gets over the course of the season, a percentage of it is shared with the teams as they are largely critical in generating revenue for the sport. This division of the revenue is given to each team based on their position in the WCC. The team to finish first gets the highest share while the team to finish the lowest gets the least share.
If an 11th team is to come into the fold, the prize money for all the positions will go down. The existing Formula 1 teams have also worked hard and played their part in bringing the sport to where it is now. Some teams don’t want an 11th team to come when things are going well just to get their share of the profits. A few days back, Haas Team principal, Guenther Steiner expressed the same.
🚨 BREAKING: Andretti is the only new team application approved by the FIA
They will now be referred to FOM for further discussions#F1 #QatarGP
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) October 2, 2023
The FOM will now be evaluating how Andretti can help F1 grow as a sport to increase the overall revenue. If F1 is not able to see how Andretti can help the sport become bigger and better in the US, they would choose not to approve Andrettie for the 2026 season. F1 is actively trying to increase their fanbase in the United States. They already are hosting 3 races in the country this year and the next. They could continue to do so if it turns out to be a success.