FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem says Renault or any other engine supplier will not be able to stop Andretti Cadillac from entering Formula 1.
The FIA president is currently in a power struggle with Formula 1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media and the existing teams who are opposed to Andretti being welcomed to the grid as early as 2025.
Months ago, Andretti agreed a provisional engine supply deal with Renault. But now Alpine team principal Bruno Famin says that the agreement between Renault and Andretti has expired and talks will not resume until the hopeful American concern is approved by Liberty.
According to FIA president Ben Sulayem, however, even the lack of a customer engine deal won’t end the Andretti bid.
Dutch magazine Formule 1.
“We then randomly choose from those two and they then have to deliver. That’s no secret either. It will probably be Alpine and Honda, and one of them will win because that’s just the rules.”
The goal is eventually for a works Cadillac engine for Andretti.
“The rules state that no one can refuse them,” he is quoted as saying in the latest edition of the “If all the suppliers say no (to providing engines to Andretti), then the FIA has the power to appoint someone. These would be the suppliers that supply the fewest teams.
Although Andretti’s bid is explicitly supported by General Motors-owned Cadillac, Ben Sulayem says the team would initially need to be powered by a customer engine.
“We also ask for that, and eventually that will happen,” Ben Sulayem said. “But engines aren’t made in just four or five years. So in the first years, Andretti will have to drive with another supplier.”
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