The American Andretti outfit is hoping to agree a commercial deal with FOM to enter F1 from 2025 at the earliest, after being given approval to join the series by the FIA.
But there is no guarantee FOM will approve Andretti’s bid, as it questions whether or not there is a tangible benefit to grand prix racing in adding an extra team to the grid.
Rival teams are also against the addition of Andretti as they fear the commercial impact that could come from having to share prize money with an extra outfit.
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And, as Steiner points out, while F1 is going through a boom period right now so a small loss of prize money would not make a dramatic impact, he says lessons should be taken on board from what happened when COVID struck.
In particular, he thinks the speed by which F1 went from being comfortable to there being a risk of losing almost half the grid as the pandemic bit, highlights the caution that needs to be taken in adjusting the finances of the current teams.
“In the current situation, we are stable, but it is not like we are making hundreds of millions of profits,” said Steiner. “We are still trying to get our budgets together to work on the budget cap and all that stuff.
“I would like to go back to 2020 when I remember sitting in these video meetings when the pandemic hit and four teams were [questioning], ‘are we here next year or not?’
Source: Autosport