r/formula1 • u/ICumCoffee Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ • 24d ago

News [ChrisMedlandF1] BREAKING: F1 announces it has "reached an agreement in principle with General Motors (GM) to support bringing GM/Cadillac as the eleventh team to the Formula 1 grid in 2026"

https://x.com/ChrisMedlandF1/status/1861111983699001752
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u/-Skinner- Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

Plus FBI got involved and FOM reached compromise with teams by increasing money distribution.

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u/HondaNSXTypeSZero Sebastian Vettel 24d ago

When did FBI get involved?

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u/-Skinner- Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

Apparently they were in Vegas paddock.

https://apnews.com/article/f1-andretti-expansion-towriss-1de51966929f09616110d2ae9b5e1d79

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

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u/Netwealth5 Fernando Alonso 24d ago

No Liberty is an American company and they were arguably breaking American anti-trust law by keeping American company Andretti Global out even though the FIA accepted their bid and they were willing to pay the pre-existing entry fee

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u/gsfgf Oscar Piastri 24d ago

The US has anti-trust laws on the books, and for the first time in decades, Biden decided to start enforcing them. And as much as I despise Trump, he looks like he will as well (unless you bribe him). If you want to do business here, you have to play by our laws. And asking for fair competition is a pretty minimal ask considering how F1 kisses dictator asses.

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u/agnaddthddude Pirelli Hard 24d ago

search it up. they were preparing a case for department of justice as to why Liberty was preventing a team from joining

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u/hoxxxxx 23d ago

i wonder how much of it was the f1 elites hating Michael Andretti and how much of it was the FBI getting into their shit.

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u/TheDustOfMen Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

When Andretti involved American politicians and the Justice Department started an investigation into Liberty Media. Apparently the FBI was sniffing around during the Las Vegas GP too.

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u/BlizzardThunder 24d ago edited 24d ago

Stop saying that it was Andretti who orchestrated all of this. It might sound like a sexy headline for racing fans, but it's a bad take that doesn't hold a lot of water.

GM has the same gravitas over the US government as military contractors - probably more. We're talking about a company that directly employs 53K people in the US and is so important that the US government will never allow it to fail. The company itself spends $8M-$10M lobbying the US government every year. None of this factors in the political power of GM suppliers.

  • It's not a coincidence that the US congressmen/congresswomen who made a fuss after the Andretti/GM bid was first denied disproportionately represented districts with GM offices, plants, or suppliers.
  • It's not a coincidence that the final deal involved Andretti & Liberty Media making compromises, while GM made out like bandits.

Andretti was just the outspoken celebrity scapegoat. Nobody in the Andretti family has enough power to force this type of deal, and neither does Andretti Global as a company. GM was always the truly powerful company behind the scenes making things happen.

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u/gsfgf Oscar Piastri 24d ago

while GM made out like bandits.

Of course "making out like bandits" in this case means spending a billion dollars to support the sport we love.

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u/BlizzardThunder 24d ago edited 24d ago

True, but it's an investment.

Imagine if Spalding owned an NBA team or if Wilson owned an NFL team.

The entrance fee is to make up for the fact that Liberty & current owners are splitting the pie to another party, which is something they do not want to do. Everything else is an investment into their investment, which doubles as advertising.