Brundle 'very surprised' by FIA and Andretti's silence

Martin Brundle has been left shocked by how silent Andretti and the FIA have been since F1 rejected the American outfit and Cadillac's F1 entry, which the governing body fully backed.

F1 announced at the end of January that they'd rejected Andretti Cadillac's bid to become an 11th team in the pinnacle of motorsport until at least 2028, when Cadillac's – a division of General Motors – powertrain is expected to be ready.

The sport released a lengthy statement outlining all the reasons why they'd rejected the bid, with one of the key reasons having been F1's concerns that Andretti Cadillac wouldn't be competitive.

Another concern raised in the document was that "F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around". Following F1's announcement, Andretti released a short statement where they insisted that they "strongly disagree" with the contents of the sport's document.

However, since releasing that statement, Andretti and the FIA have remained silent, something which is viewed as weird by Brundle. General Motors Vice President of Performance and Motorsport Jim Campbell did reveal last Friday that a meeting with F1 had been requested, and that Andretti Cadillac are still working hard.

Brundle ponders whether Andretti's silence is perhaps because they are considering taking legal action and has stressed that the sport needs to be less confident.

Andretti 'regrouping quietly'

"I'm very surprised we haven't heard anything from the FIA, or really from Andretti, since that decision was made," Brundle said on the Sky F1 podcast.

"I would personally like to see an 11th and even a 12th team on the grid, it's another two team managers to speak to, another four drivers and four more cars to look at. For example, if you have a massive first corner shunt somewhere, and you lose six or seven cars, so I think the show could do with it. Nothing to do with Andretti in that respect.

"I understand why a lot of the teams in Formula 1 were like no, we don't want to share the pie out anymore. We're quite happy with 20 cars, our pit-lane is full of all the things that go on in the pit-lane, including hospitality and what have you, whether it's Brad Pitt's movie or whatever.

"So they said they didn't need it and they think that Andretti with a customer engine won't really be bringing anything to Formula 1, it'll take more than it'll give.

"So whether they're regrouping quietly for anti-trust laws or anti-competition laws in the EU or whatever, I don't know. But it all seems to have gone away very easily. And Andretti is a massive name in America, of course. But I think Formula 1 mustn't, we mustn't be too confident, you've got to think a little bit longer term."