Formula One’s latest existential crisis is now accelerating. Such is the severity of the issues at stake that Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Lawrence Stroll and Stefano Domenicali all arrived at the USGP ‘lawyered up’ and officials from the US Justice Department were on hand to further their investigation.

Ralf Bach, one of Germany’s veteran F1 journalists pens a description of the atmosphere in the luxury motorhomes of those individuals under investigation by the US government as a “category five hurricane of fear which is sweeping through the millionaires private club.”

The US Department of justice announced during the Miami Grand Prix this year that it was opening a investigation into the “restrictive practices” of Formula One. The beef is the refusal by F1 and certain team bosses to allow the FIA green lit Andretti F1 team onto the F1 grid.

 

 

 

Liberty Exec insults Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti reveals how Liberty Media’s CEO, Greg Mafffei, accosted him on the grid outside the Dolphins stadium this year, interrupting a conversation the American racing legend was having with F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali. 

“‘Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael never enters Formula 1,’” Andretti confessed to NBC. Then the Liberty Media executive turned on his heel and marched away.

Following an exhaustive process, the FIA had finally approved the Andretti F1 application in 2023 only for Liberty Media to respond after several months with a report stating that Andretti did not meet the standards required to be part of there sport.

The row is unsurprisingly all about money. Whilst the Concorde agreement allows for another two teams in Formula One, the current ten competitors refuse see their share of the prize fund diluted given Liberty Media had said there was no extra cash on offer for an eleventh team.

Colapinto set to join Red Bull

 

 

 

Liberty Media admit US Justice Dept investigation

It emerged this May that F1 was facing questions over the Andretti rejection following a letter presented to congress signed by 12 of its members. The document revealed there were specific concerns over a breach of US anti-trust legislation and the existence of an illegal cartel at the heart of F1.

Come August, Maffei was forced to publicly admit that F1 and its executives were under scrutiny from the US Authorities. “Looking at Andretti […] there is a DOJ investigation. We intend to fully cooperate with that investigation, including any related requests for information” he said.

“We believe our determination, F1’s determination, was in compliance with all applicable US antitrust laws, and we have detailed the rationale for our decision vis-à-vis [to] Andretti in prior statements.”

The charges brought were based on the original submission which stated: “The attempt to prevent American companies from joining Formula 1 is unfair and wrong. This could also violate American antitrust law,” says the rap sheet.

FIA fine two F1 competitors for financial irregularities

 

 

 

Collusion from F1’s big four

“The participation of all Formula 1 teams, including all American teams, should be based on performance and not just limited to the protection of the current lineup of racing teams.”

Now it has become apparent that the US investigators have honed in on Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Lawrence Stroll and F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali and their secret whatsapp chat which contains alleged evidence they all colluded to refuse Andretti F1 entry for personal gain.

According to Ralf Bach, US officials at the Grand Prix in Austin insisted that they had more questions to put to the four individuals and that they would each be expected to attend a video conference to answer further questions in the very near future. The four were told that any misleading or false statements could bring “drastic consequences”, even personnel charges for “corruption” and “collusion.”

While the US authorities have acted with relentless efficiency, Europe’s 27 headed Leviathan is slowly raising its interest in F1 and its “anti-competitive” actions. Around the turn of the millennium, the EU commission forced F1 to divide its regulatory and commercial operations to independent parties.

Horner identifies new ‘trick’ with FIA driving guidelines

 

 

 

EU divide F1’s powers of authority

Since then the FIA controls all regulatory activity in F1, while the commercial rights holder manages all commercial interests within the sport. The EU will investigate whether the Chinese wall between the two parties has been breached, following the FIA agreeing to the Andretti application but F1 rejecting it out of hand.

Earlier this month, Belgian MEP Pascal Arimont called on the European Commission to investigate Liberty Media because the Formula 1 owner may have violated European competition law. Arimont was particularly concerned over the “protection of consumers” and “fair competition.”

Another of the MEP’s, Christian Anderson demanded an official enquiry into Formula One stating “the rejection of Andretti’s entry by the Formula One Group despite FIA approval could reveal a fundamental conflict of interest”.

Lawson receives dire warning from Red Bull boss

 

 

 

Liberty chief legal aid the ‘sacrificial lamb’

Anderson went on to suggests that the F1 teams colluding to block the Andretti F1 entry “could significantly distort competition in the European motorsport industry”. With all this in mind it appeared strange that Michael Andretti stepped back from his Andretti Motorsport responsibilities earlier this month with some F1 pundits suggesting this paved the way for the impasse between him and Greg Maffei.

Bach claims behind the scenes there is evidence that John Malone, billionaire owner of Liberty Media is unhappy with his executives handling of the matter and is looking to “limit the damage” from blocking Andretti from joining F1.

As the EU and US inspects F1’s activities ever more closely, it appears some kind of deal to allow Andretti into F1 must be done to make the threat of legal action go away.

Interestingly last month saw the departure of Liberty’s chief legal expert, Sacha Woodwind, paving the way for her to be presented to the authorities as the ‘sacrificial lamb’ whose advice to Liberty Media created this mess.

Zandvoort denies SHOCK F1 calendar rumours

 

 

 

BREAKING: Audi decides to sell its F1 team

When the FIA launched its consultation process to explore how Formula One could become more attractive to auto manufacturers back in 2017, the resulting mess could never haver been anticipated. Porsche were a high profile target for the FIA and an F1 return for the German manufacturer seemed almost to be set in stone.

Porsche were pushing for the new regulations to include a four wheel drive system similar to the one on their Le Mans cars and the FIA had laid out the principles to drive the process. Engine design was to be simplified from the uber complex hybrids introduced in 2014, costs must be reduced to customer teams and new entries promoted with vigour.

The new power units were intended to debut in 2021however Covid-19 saw them pushed back a year. Then it was decided to freeze the current engine regulations in 2022 and introduce the all new power units for the 2026 season… READ MORE