Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made bizarre argument to deny Andretti a place on F1 grid

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Andretti were told the devastating news on Wednesday that they wouldn’t be joining the Formula 1 grid before 2026 and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff was one of those in opposition.

While Andretti’s bid to join the grid was approved by the FIA, Formula One Management informed them that their application had been rejected.

A report from The Athletic has provided further details, including some of the reasons why the American outfit are going to have to be patient.

Formula 1 has been a closed shop since 2016 when Haas joined the grid.

Gene Haas’s outfit hit the ground running but have fallen to the back of the pack in recent years.

They parted ways with Guenther Steiner as a result but that’s unlikely to fix all of their issues.

Andretti won’t be joining their American compatriots on the grid in the near future and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff gave an odd reason why he didn’t want an 11^th team to join F1.

It would have been a tough task to get up to speed for the 2025 speed, especially with new regulations coming into effect in 2026.

However, they have the backing of GM as a power unit supplier from 2028 and that might help their cause.

But it won’t solve the problem that Wolff raised when it came to his doubts over their entry.

Mercedes chief Wolff gave bizarre reason for Andretti’s denial

The report from The Athletic suggests there were doubts over the benefit Andretti would give F1 by joining the grid commercially.

They believed that Andretti would benefit more from Formula 1’s reputation than the other way around.

The Athletic go on to say that an argument Mercedes boss Wolff raised about Andretti was that F1 tracks weren’t big enough to accommodate another team.

Although the entourage surrounding Formula 1 has significantly grown in recent years, it’s hard to believe that this is a genuine concern.

Even tracks like Monaco where space is at a premium have hosted races with 24 cars or more in the past.

To suggest that fitting one more team onto the grid is a serious reason to reject their application seems absurd.

The reasoning given by Formula One Management would raise questions about Haas and RB’s place on the grid given their relationships with Ferrari and Red Bull respectively.

Wolff may have much bigger things to worry about with Lewis Hamilton potentially joining Ferrari in 2025 in one of the biggest driver moves in the sport’s recent history.