Andretti Cadillac still working 'at pace' – General Motors

GM’s Vice President of Performance and Motorsport Jim Campbell has stressed that a meeting with F1 has been requested, after an IT glitch meant Andretti were unaware of an invitation to meet commercial rights holders in December.

The FIA approved Andretti Cadillac's application to join the F1 grid last October, before it was passed to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, where it hit a significant stumbling block.

A strong statement was released by F1 in January outlining why Andretti Cadillac's bid for 2025 had been rejected, with a key theme in the statement being the concern that the team would be uncompetitive, especially with the likelihood that customer Renault power units would initially be used.

However, the sport stressed that they would be much more open to the side in 2028, when Cadillac expect their own powertrain to be ready.

Speaking on Friday at Daytona for the first time since Andretti Cadillac released a statement in response to their rejected bid, Campbell insisted that they continue to feel strongly about their application.

“In terms of our application with Andretti, we feel great about our application,” said Campbell.

“The FIA studied it against other applicants, and then gave our application a vote of confidence and approval.

“So obviously the FOM made their statement, and we have asked for a follow up meeting with FOM, and so we will work through that. We do believe between Andretti and Cadillac that we have got the capability of fielding a competitive entry.

“We are not saying that it is easy, but we do between our two organisations have examples in our history of where we have been successful in other motorsports categories, and that is true of Cadillac and Andretti.

“With that said, our joint teams are continuing to develop our car at pace. So, that is where we are at.”

GM 'confident' in application

Despite F1 rejecting their bid, GM continue to feel positive about their application and played down suggestions of the American automotive company feeling offended by the claims they'd be uncompetitive.

“As I said, we believe in the application we submitted,” Campbell noted. “And in that application we articulated the abilities of both Andretti as a race team, and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity.

“So, we feel confident in the application and are asking for a meeting with FOM.”

With F1 being more open to the American team when Cadillac have built their own power unit in 2028, Campbell was asked if it was possible for the engines to be ready any sooner, only for him to outline that there are regulations in the way.

“When you register to be a power unit, there is a deadline to do that, and for us it was last June for 2028,” he said.

“If you wanted to develop an engine sooner, then you would have had to register the previous year for that. So, it’s simply a regulation.”