It’s no surprise that the biggest Formula 1 talking point this side of at what time this weekend Max Verstappen clinches his third F1 championship is the debate over the Andretti Cadillac bid.
The application submitted by Michael Andretti’s group was approved by the FIA earlier this week. All that’s standing in the way of the Andretti Formula Cadillac entry is the final approval by Formula One Management.
F1 team owners and even drivers seem mixed, at best, on the idea of two more cars on the grid.
As for seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, he’s all in.
“Yeah, I think it’s great,” Hamilton said on Thursday in Qatar. “I’ve always felt there wasn’t enough cars on the grid. While there’s definitely people that won’t be happy for me to be supportive of it I think it’s great, it’s an opportunity for more jobs.
“It’s another two seats available for a female driver to come through. It opens up more possibilities and I think it would be more exciting for the race.”
Soon-to-be-three-time champion Max Verstappen can see both sides of the equation.
“I speak from the driver’s side, but of course I’m not a team owner, so I can understand their side,” Verstappen said. “Everything I’ve seen so far, plus I think the partners they have and the name, they have shown they are a professional team. It would be I think nice, because I think it gives more opportunities for the drivers’ side. But I can understand from the team’s side, they don’t want it.
“It’s a tricky one, it’s a tough one. And at the end of the day, the FIA and the teams, and FOM, they have more information about how serious everything is and how well everything is prepared. That’s why it’s not going to be a very easy decision to make.”
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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