Pat Symonds has defended the reluctance of Formula 1 and the existing teams to welcome Michael Andretti’s motorsport empire to the sport. Now with key GM-Cadillac backing, Andretti has the support of the governing FIA for his 2025 or 2026 team entry bid, but is still facing opposition from top teams including Mercedes. “We are partners in the Walkinshaw supercar team,” he told formel1.de. “Since Haas came in, we haven’t had a new team for a long time and the Andretti name has such a history in various categories of motorsport.”. Brown, however, was reluctant to comment on rumours that existing teams are now demanding much more than a $200 million entry fee from Andretti. Pat Symonds, the continuing chief technical officer at Formula 1, said he can understand some of the existing teams’ reluctance.

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