Former Ferrari team principal and current Formula 1 chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali has criticised Andretti for their approach to gaining access to the Formula 1 grid, describing it as “vocal” and pointing out that it is in fact “not smart”. The former ex-Maranello team boss believes that that other, quieter, teams also hold an interest and may in fact be favoured by their less vocal approach.
Stefano Domenicali was recently interviewed by Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle and wanted to be clear that the top management of Formula 1 would not be swayed by team owner Michael Andretti’s “shouting” and repeated attempts to “push the system”.
The matter of Michael Andretti and an 11th team is the main topic of discussion between Martin Brundle and the Formula 1 president: they discuss the “all-American” attempt to join the sport in 2026 as Michael Andretti, a former Formula 1 driver, has been passionately and publicly driving the bid with help from his world championship-winning father Mario and last month Andretti took their biggest step towards the grid by signing a deal with fellow US company General Motors.
The Andretti-Cadillac project has even been welcomed by the FIA, Formula 1’s governing body, with a 2026 entry mooted.
Yet Formula 1, as well as the current ten teams, have to also agree to allow any new party to join the grid and Andretti’s approach has ruffled feathers – especially when Michael accused other teams, except McLaren and Alpine, of “greed” due to their seeming unwillingness to dilute the current prize money.
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Stefano Domenicali, who between 2007 and 2014 was in charge of the Ferrari F1 Division, confirmed he would have gone about it in a different manner/l
“First of all, we are very welcoming of everyone that is bringing value to the racing. I think we need to respect everyone. There are teams like Mario and Michael Andretti being very vocal about their will to enter Formula 1. But in my view [it is] not smart to say that teams are greedy. There are others that are much less vocal that would like to come into Formula 1, so there is a process to respect and we will make sure together with the FIA that the process will be respected.” – the Italian manager explained.
Following the official Andretti’s General Motors announcement a few weeks ago, Formula 1 pointed out that other parties also want to join:
“If all the elements are there, they will be very welcome,” continued Stefano Domenicali on the matter of an 11th team joining the sport. “There are a lot of dimensions to consider and we don’t have to overreact because someone is pushing the system. The process will be done seriously in the right way someone is shouting and someone is not shouting.” – he added.
The ex-Ferrari boss also confirmed he has talked about their actions “very openly”, telling them “I would have acted in a different way”. When questioned if a big American team would add value to Formula 1, the Italian concluded: “I would say we need to be prudent. It may seem this is a personal negative attack on Andretti but this is not the case. We need to be serious and professional in evaluating all the elements.”
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