Ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has shared his views on Andretti Global’s bid to join the Formula 1 grid, with the Scotsman having warned the American company that “money is not enough” to be granted a team at the pinnacle of motorsport.
After announcing a partnership with Global Motors, Andretti’s bid to finally join F1 has been gaining significant momentum after receiving support from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has asked the sport to be more supportive of prospective teams.
Should they join the sport, then they’ll be known as something similar to Andretti-Cadillac, with the latter being a division of Global Motors.
There is absolutely no doubt that the team will have plenty of money to offer the sport; however, Andretti’s money isn’t what the current teams are worried about.
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Many sides are believed to be concerned about General Motors intentions, with some speculating that they are going to use F1 as a badging exercise.
With that in mind, Coulthard has warned Andretti that “money is not enough”.
“We’ll see what the governing body and the teams work out between them,” Coulthard told PlanetF1.com.
“But right now we’re in that political manoeuvring [phase] aren’t we? People are wrangling about it.
“But to enter the sport is one thing, to be successful takes a lot of time, a lot of commitment and a lot of human resources. So money is not enough.”
A concern of the current teams on the grid is that they will lose money should Andretti join, with Coulthard adding that some teams might feel disgruntled given how much “investment’ they have put into their side.
The former Red Bull driver used the Austrians as an example, given that they’ve spent so long developing both their team and AlphaTauri (previously known as Toro Rosso), just for Andretti to join when the sport is booming across the globe.
“I’ve lived through an era where there were more teams at certain points and there’ve been the same amount of teams as there is now and then maybe two or three of them were really quite weak in terms of the performance.
“More cars have to be good for the spectacle but the reality is every sports man and woman has put in the hard yards before they were ever paid, because they love doing what we’re doing.
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“I understand why the teams are slightly reluctant when you’ve got a franchise value based on 10 teams.
“Red Bull have two Formula 1 teams. I think it’s an incredible story of investment and vision if you look at what they’ve done over the last 15, 20 years from Red Bull Racing’s beginning and then Toro Rosso.
“So if you’ve invested all that and then another team just comes in with not having put in their investment then that affects your value.”