Domenicali: Not smart for Andretti to say teams are greedy

In the latest development in the Andretti-Cadillac application to enter Formula 1 as an 11th team, the sport's CEO Stefano Domenicali has responded to a statement by Michael Andretti where he accused the F1 teams of being greedy as the reason behind their reluctance to receive the American F1 venture with open arms.

Earlier this year, Andretti and Cadillac announced their plans to enter F1 together shortly after FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, announced that he has directed his team to start the process of adding more teams to the F1 grid, a step the FIA made official on February 2.

While Ben Sulayem was super enthusiastic about Andretti-Cadillac, the teams and the sport's management gave a lukewarm reaction to the news prompting the FIA chief to express his surprise, which was shortly followed by the aforementioned Andretti statement accusing teams of greed.

In a recent exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1, and speaking to respected F1 pundit Martin Brundle, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali weighed in the the Andretti-Cadillac subject.

"First of all, we are very welcoming of everyone that is bringing value to the racing," Domenicali said. "I think we need to respect everyone. There are teams like Mario and Michael Andretti being very vocal about their will to enter Formula 1.

"But in my view [it is] not smart to say that teams are greedy," the 57-year-old Italian warned.

Domenicali also revealed that other unknown parties are looking to join the 10-team F1 grid; he said: "There are others that are much less vocal that would like to come into Formula 1, so there is a process to respect and we will make sure together with the FIA that the process will be respected.

"If all the elements are there, they will be very welcome. There are a lot of dimensions to consider and we don't have to overreact because someone is pushing the system.

"The process will be done seriously in the right way someone is shouting and someone is not shouting," the former Ferrari team boss maintained.

He also revealed that he has discussed Andretti-Cadillac actions "very openly", telling them: "I would have acted in a different way".

F1's popularity in the United States has grown exponentially in recent years, especially after the Netflix docuseries "Drive to Survive" and with Haas being the only American team of the grid, it makes sense to have more, especially if someone like the Andrettis with their motorsport legacy.

But Domenicali insists the sport will not make any shortcuts insisting on due diligence being done while ensuring their is nothing personal against Andretti-Cadillac.

"I would say we need to be prudent," he said. "It may seem this is a personal negative attack on Andretti but this is not the case.

"We need to be serious and professional in evaluating all the elements," Domenicali concluded.

F1 will have three races in the United States this year, for the first time in the sport's history stateside with Las Vegas joining the calendar (November), while Miami, making its F1 debut in 2022, will be returning in May 2023 as well.

The United States Grand Prix at Austin will return for an 11th edition this year after its first edition back in 2012, noting that it was skipped in 2020 due to Covid-19.