Toto Wolff picks Audi over Andretti as a plausible 11th F1 team on the grid
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Toto Wolff
Michael Andretti’s proposal to broaden his multi-series process to F1 has been confronted with strong opposition from the majority of the grid’s current ten entrants. Relevant teams are tired of sharing F1’s cash prize with another competing product, and they believe the current $200 million dilution fund is insufficient, given that the worth of owning an F1 entrance has skyrocketed substantially since that cost was established, attributed to the sport’s rapidly growing international importance and the recently introduced cost cap.
Given the fact that Audi is keen to enter the motorsport, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes the German manufacturer’s magnitude and marketing power would make it a better 11th inductee than Andretti, despite the fact that the American team has become a world superpower engaged in IndyCar, Formula E, Extreme E, and Australian Supercars.
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Toto Wolff gives his reasoning behind picking Audi over Andretti
In light of the confusion regarding the Andretti team’s predicament, whether a new addition from Audi would alter the viewpoint of current teams was asked specifically to Wolff, to which he replied: “I think that whoever joins as the 11th team, whoever gets an entry, needs to demonstrate how creative they can be for the business. Andretti is a great name, and I think they have done exceptional things in the US. But this is sport and this is business and we need to understand what is it that you can provide to the sport.”
“And if an OEM or an international, multinational group joins F1 and can demonstrate that they are going to spend X amount of dollars in activating, in marketing in the various markets; that’s obviously a totally different value proposition for all the other teams,” added the Austrian. Wolff believes that F1 will proceed to boost its significance in the years ahead and that any new competitors must start contributing to that phase.
“With 10 franchises that we hope can increase the value, and you’re certainly not going to increase the value by just issuing new franchises to people that cannot increase the overall value of Formula 1,” concluded Wolff. Apart from Audi, VW Group sister marque Porsche is nearly equal to reaching an agreement with Red Bull Racing for a substantial equity and power unit supply contract beginning in 2026, when F1’s new engine regulations take effect.
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Rishika Saha
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