F1 | Liberty Media: Antitrust investigation for rejecting Andretti

Liberty Media has announced that it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for rejecting Andretti Global’s bid for Formula One.

Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei confirmed during a quarterly earnings call that the company that owns Formula One is officially under investigation by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division over the legality of its refusal to give F1 to Michael Andretti’s team.

A partner of General Motors’ Cadillac brand, Andretti has long pushed to enter F1 as an 11th team, setting up a base at Silverstone and carrying out a huge recruitment drive that includes former F1 man Pat Symonds.

While the FIA ​​accepted Andretti Global’s offer on a technical level, F1 itself kept the door closed to the American powerhouse because it did not consider that Andretti could become competitive in the medium term and therefore would not provide sufficient commercial value to the series.

F1 teams were also reluctant to accept Andretti because they would have to split their prize money with a new competitor.

Maffei said Liberty Media will cooperate with the Department of Justice and is confident that F1 has not violated any U.S. laws.

“With respect to Andretti, as you saw this morning, we announced the existence of a Department of Justice investigation,” Maffei told Wall Street analysts Thursday. “We intend to cooperate fully with that investigation, including any related requests for information.”

“We believe our decision, F1’s decision, was consistent with all applicable US antitrust laws and we have detailed the rationale for our decision against Andretti in previous statements.”

Maffei reiterated that F1 and Liberty Media do not rule out accepting an expansion team if it meets all the conditions.

“We are certainly not opposed to the idea that any expansion is wrong,” he said. “There is a methodology for expansion that requires the approval of the FIA ​​and F1 and both groups need to find the criteria are met.”

“We are certainly open to applications from new entrants and their potential approval if the requirements are met.”

In May, the chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into Liberty Media’s refusal to let Andretti enter F1, in an escalation of political interest.

This came just days after team patriarch Mario Andretti appeared on Capitol Hill, prompting Republican Jim Jordan to write to F1 owners demanding an explanation for the decision-making process that dashed Andretti’s hopes.