Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll has questioned why Formula One would let Andretti join as an 11th team, saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
This week the governing FIA gave its approval for an Andretti-Cadillac bid to join F1 in 2025 or 2026, pending approval from the sport’s commercial rights holder, Liberty Media.
Liberty is unlikely to accept Andretti without unanimous approval from all the sports shareholders, which includes the 10 existing teams.
Various F1 teams have previously made it known they are opposed to allowing another team to enter when they are enjoying an increased share of the profits in the sport’s booming period.
Stroll appears to be unchanged in his stance.
“I think F1 at the moment, the business is on fire, the sport has never been in a better place, and I believe if it ain’t broke you don’t need to fix it, so I’m a strong believer that it’s working really well with 10 teams right now and believe that’s the way it should stay,” Stroll told Sky Sports.
Michael Andretti, owner of the team which shares his name, called F1’s teams “greedy” earlier this year when asked about the lukewarm response to his initial expression of interest.
Much has been made of F1’s growth in America over the past few seasons, but Stroll suggested that surge would continue without a new U.S. entity joining the championship.
“As I said the sport and the business is on fire,” he said. “There’s never been more fans or spectators, the audience is the highest it has ever been. I continue to see substantial growth, particularly in the United States which is the largest consumer market in the world.
“As you know we now have three races in the States – we’re in our second year in Miami, we’re going to Las Vegas in November, so I see tremendous growth possibilities going forward.”