To borrow from one of the most famous slogans in United States presidential election history, "it's politics, stupid."
Over the past couple of weeks, the plight of Andretti and its blocked bid to enter Formula 1 has piqued the interest of the United States Congress, and specifically the House of Representatives, with two high-profile interventions either side of the Miami Grand Prix.
However, the bigger intervention, and potentially the one with more bite, came earlier this week when the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan opened an investigation, addressing his letter to both Maffei and F1's Stefano Domenicali.
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To date, it is only members of the House who have publicly come out and put pressure on Liberty/F1, with no Senator yet doing so.
Perhaps there's something in the fact that House members are elected every two years and must be constantly on the pulse of what the voters in their district are talking about, whilst Senators enjoy six-year terms with one-third up for re-election every two years.
But whatever the reasons, the Senate has yet to touch Andretti's case.
The House members, including Rep. Jordan's investigation, want to see all documentation relating to the entry process and discussions that took place between F1 and the existing 10 teams, and even between them, as to why Andretti was effectively told: 'Thanks, but no thanks' unless power unit partner General Motors has a fully running engine for 2028.
The House's interest seems to have been piqued by a demo run from Red Bull on Pennsylvania Avenue on April 20th, with David Coulthard taking the RB7 for a spin sandwiched between the White House and Capitol Hill.
Now, if you're making THAT much noise in Congress' backyard, you are going to poke the bear and it will turn around and say, 'Hmm, what is going on here?'
1978 world champion Mario Andretti was summoned to the Hill in the lead-up to the Miami GP, where, on the grid, he declared that the team was still working towards a 2026 entry, imploring F1 just to give the team a chance to prove it is capable.
But why is Congress acting now?
Despite the common misconception, politicians are no mugs, and in the launching of Rep. Jordan's investigation, it was signposted that he is an F1 fan and enjoys watching grand prix racing.
Something timely to say you might think, especially as the Miami GP drew over 3 million viewers, the highest-ever number for a grand prix in the United States.
Vox Populi, and all that.
This is linked to the carrot that F1 left hanging for the Andretti-GM bid and the chance to reevaluate the bid in a couple of years, provided GM and its Cadillac brand are able to come up with a competitive power unit.
GM is based in Dearborn, Michigan, a state that is crucial in November's upcoming presidential election, one that both incumbent Joe Biden and challenger Donald Trump must carry if they have any hope of raising their right hand and repeating after the Chief Justice around 12pm ET on January 20th, 2025.
Rep. Jordan is a fierce supporter of Trump, who FiveThirtyEight currently has up by 0.8% on Biden in the state that has voted with the winner nine times in the last 11 elections since 1980.
The only president never to have carried Michigan in that time was George W Bush, losing to Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.
Rep. Jordan is not from Michigan, he is based in Ohio, but as ever, Michigan will be one of the key prizes come November.
What better way is there to lure some votes for your party - the Republicans - and by extension, Trump, than to be seen to be trying to get a Formula 1 project off the ground and talking tough to those who rejected Andretti?
Expect the noise to turn up in the coming months...
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Gordo62
Liberty Media and their puppet mouthpiece Stefano Domenicali better start praying for divine intervention because this thing isn’t going away. Andretti are an iconic American racing team. GM & Cadillac are a well known American manufacturer and racing team. This is a serious American effort. Now the European snobs might say “who cares? They are a bunch of Yanks who know nothing about European racing.”. Not so fast. Mario & Michael Andretti are both former race car drivers. Mario a F1 WDC 1978. Cadillac compete in LeMans and the WEC. So they know what they are getting into. Now FOM and F1 teams want American fans, American sponsors, American exposure, & American dollars. But they don’t want to allow a serious American team to compete against the European and British teams? All because they don’t want to share the growing income that F1 participation generates? Income that American fans contribute towards F1. Is that what you want Congress to accept? If you believe that you must be a lunatic. Try telling British and European soccer fans that their teams can’t compete in the World Cup, but we still want their fans money. See what reaction you get.
Roger Norman
I think the money is certainly part of why the current ten teams don't want to add Andretti/Cadillac. F One Group just made $553 million in the first quarter of 2024. They are making more than enough money to add a team (and the Concorde agreement allows for it). What really bothers Domenicali and FOM is being shown a blue flag by a true American works team, and the off chance that Andretti/Cadillac will develop a car as good as the Ford GT that ran at Le Mans from 1966 to 1969. They just don't want to compete and lose regularly to Americans.
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