During Thursday’s earnings call, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei disclosed that the Department of Justice is looking into Andretti and its potential Formula One offer.
“This morning, we announced that there is a DOJ investigation. We intend to fully cooperate with that investigation, including any related requests for information,” Maffei said on the call. “We believe our determination or F1’s determination was in compliance with all applicable US anti-trust laws. And we’ve detailed the rationale for this decision vis-a-vis Andretti in prior statements. We are certainly not against the idea that any expansion is wrong.
“There is a methodology for expansion that requires approval of the FIA and the F1, and both groups have to find the criteria met,” he added. “We’re certainly open to new entrants making applications and potentially being approved if those requirements are met.”
When The Athletic asked for clarification, the DOJ’s antitrust division refused to comment.
The investigation was prompted by a letter that six US senators wrote to Lina Khan, the head of the Federal Trade Commission, and Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s antitrust division, in May. They demanded that the government look into the reasons behind Formula One Management’s rejection of Andretti’s application to enter the grid in 2025 or 2026. “It is plausible that such a refusal to deal— especially if managed through a group boycott— could violate U.S. antitrust laws,” the organization suggested in its May letter. Though they do not have a vote on the issue, the 10 teams have voiced their worries.
The Athletic reached out to the FTC, asking whether it will look into the matter further. It also remained silent.
A few days after Mario Andretti visited Capitol Hill and after 12 House members signed a letter to Maffei expressing their “concerns with apparent anti-competitive actions that could prevent two American companies, Andretti Global and General Motors (GM), from producing and competing in Formula 1,” the House Judiciary Committee began looking into the same subject earlier in May. Furthermore, not one of those individuals serves on the House Judiciary Committee.
The FIA approved Andretti’s bid last fall, and the governing body’s purview focuses on technical and sporting merits. The holder of the commercial rights, FOM, then lost the bid. It rejected Andretti’s bid for 2025 or 2026 but didn’t completely close the door on the possibility of joining in the future. It said it would “look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 championship.” This is when GM expects to build its first F1 engine.
FOM listed numerous reasons why it did not approve Andretti’s bid, including that “we do not believe that the Applicant would be a competitive participant” given that it’ll design two cars for two different sets of regulations (2025 and 2026) and rely on a customer engine. However, the company has continued pushing forward with its operations, including setting up a base at Silverstone in the UK and hiring staff (including key F1 tech figure Pat Symonds).
Top photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
