Mario Andretti has claimed Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has voiced his intention personally to prevent Michael Andretti’s prospective side from entering Formula 1.
The FIA accepted Andretti’s proposal last October, but Formula One Management (FOM) didn’t grant the American team the green light over plans to enter in 2025/6.
FOM argued that Andretti would not add enough value to the F1 championship and also cast doubt over its potential to be a “competitive participant” from the outset.
However, FOM did add that it would consider Andretti’s application for 2028, providing it could guarantee that General Motors will arrive as a power unit manufacturer.
That outcome has since resulted in Members of the United States Congress and House Judiciary Committee Chairman penning letters to Maffei seeking clarification.
The latest development has seen Andretti allege that he was speaking to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in Miami when Maffei interrupted and made his intentions clear.
“I was asked to go there (to Washington),” Andretti told NBC. “And just as I was trying to explain that to Stefano, Greg Maffei, Mr. Maffei, broke in the conversation and he said: ‘Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael never enters Formula 1.’
“I could not believe that. That one really floored me. … We’re talking about business.
“I didn’t know it was something so personal. That was really — oh, my goodness. I could not believe it. It was just like a bullet through my heart.”
However, RACER has been told that Maffei denied Andretti’s version of events and instead insisted that the 1978 World Champion approached him to discuss matters.
Andretti has continued to press on with plans to become the latest addition to the grid with the opening of a new base at Silverstone in April to scale up its operation.
With erstwhile Renault engineer Nick Chester serving as its Technical Director, Andretti revealed nascent ambitions to test a full-scale F1 chassis model in mid-2024.
The American squad has also announced that ex-F1 Chief Technical Officer Pat Simonds will come on board as a technical consultant once his gardening leave ends.
MotorsportWeek.com has reached out to F1 for comment regarding Andretti’s assertion that Liberty maintains a desire to not see the eponymous team enter the sport.
