The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have been urged to investigate Formula One management’s decision to reject American team Andretti-Cadillac’s bid to join the track in 2025 or 2026. A group of U.S. senators all signed a letter, claiming the decision may be a breach of U.S. antitrust laws.
The 10 teams currently competing in F1 do not have a say in the decision, but have repeatedly expressed concerns about the U.S. based team entering the competition. F1 rejected the joint bid at the start of the year, citing an 11th team “would not on its own add value” and that it did “not believe the applicant would be a competitive participant”.
Andretti replied by stating they “strongly disagree” with the decision, while F1 legend Mario Andretti, who is the figurehead of the team, admitted he was left “devastated” by the decision. While F1 rejected the bid to join in 2025 or 2026, it appeared to leave the door open for the American team’s potential admission in 2028.
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However, it does not appear they are willing to wait, as according to The Athletic, six U.S. senators signed a letter that was sent to Lina Khan, the chair of the FTC, and Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s antitrust division, in response to the rejection. Before this was sent, the House Judiciary Committee also launched an investigation into the decision to reject the approach.
A section of the letter, which was obtained by the Athletic, saw the senators suggest: “It is possible that such a refusal to deal — especially if orchestrated through a group boycott could violate U.S. antitrust laws”.
It also follows a letter sent by chairman of the committee Republican Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to Liberty Media president and CEO Greg Maffei and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicalli on May 7. The Republican demanded various documents, communications and “a staff-level briefing” which took place around F1 management’s decision to reject the bid.
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The letter also suggests FOM management may have engaged in anti-competitive behaviour. Last Autumn, the FIA approved Andretti’s bid last fall, before it was rejected by FOM, who are the commercial rights holders. Express Sport has approached F1 for comment.
In a statement detailing their reasons for rejecting the bid, a spokesperson from F1 said: “F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around. It also claimed they were “not able to identify any material expected positive effect on CRH financial results”.
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It also stated: “On the basis of the application as it stands, we do not believe that the Applicant has shown that it would add value to the championship. We conclude that the Applicant’s application to participate in the championship should not be successful.”
The Senators’ letter refutes the claim about a lack of added value, detailing the growth in viewership in the States over the last few years. It said: “Even individual teams, such as Red Bull, are courting U.S. fans by hosting events in U.S. cities to ‘get up close and personal with the marvel of Formula One engineering, bringing together F1 fans'.
“Clearly there is a financial incentive to adding an American team to Fl’s roster, and there is no reason Team Andretti-Cadillac should be blocked unless FOM is trying to insulate its current partners from competition.”