During Thursday’s Q2 2024 Earnings Call, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei confirmed that Liberty Media (the company which owns Formula One) is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division for denying Andretti Global entry into the Formula 1 World Championship. Maffei stated during the call “We intend to fully cooperate with that investigation, including any related request for information.”
Andretti Global is a powerhouse in motorsport and at present compete in Formula E; the NTT IndyCar Series; Indy NXT Series, IMSA and Australian Supercars – to name but a few of their categories. However, an ‘Andretti Cadillac’ F1 effort has always been top of their list but this seems to have come to an end back in January when F1 rejected Andretti’s application to be able to join the pinnacle of motorsport – Formula One.
The rejection was not done on a whim seeing how it came after a six-month review process but even so – once rejected – Mario and Michael Andretti for both vocal in their dissatisfaction. Following this, back in May, six U.S. senators called for the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to “investigate Formula One Management’s decision to reject” Andretti Global’s bid to join the F1 grid in 2025 or 2026. In a letter, the bipartisan group of senators suggested “it is possible that such a refusal to deal — especially if orchestrated through a group boycott could violate U.S. antitrust laws.”
During Thursday’s Quarterly Earnings Call, Ben Swinburne (Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Head of US Media Research) asked what prevented Andretti from joining F1 and also about the ‘DoJ noise’. Without going into great detail for obvious reasons, Maffei stated the company’s stance.
“Looking at Andretti, as you saw this morning, we announced that there is a DoJ investigation. We intend to fully cooperate with that investigation, including any related request for information. We believe our determination or F1’s determination was in compliance with all applicable US anti-trust laws,” Maffei said. “And we’ve detailed the rationale for this decision vis-a-vis Andretti in prior statements. We are certainly not against the idea that any expansion is wrong.”
The desire of F1 is clear to see as the sport experiences unprecedented popularity. Grand Prix weekends frequently sell out and the Q2 Earnings Call this past Thursday revealed in detail the growth the sport has seen in 2024. Some headline figures being: a 32% increase in social media followers compared to 2023; 4.1 billion video views and F1 TV subscriptions up by 11% year-over-year. Liberty Media unsurprisingly reiterated that they are always open to new teams joining the grid.
“We are certainly not against the idea that any expansion is wrong,” Maffei claimed. “There is a methodology for expansion that requires approval of the FIA and the F1 and both groups have to find the criteria met. We’re certainly open to new entrants making applications and potentially being approved if those requirements are met.”
What comes from the DoJ investigation remains to be seen but Andretti are not losing interest anytime soon and the world of motorsport awaits the next development of this ongoing saga which looks set to be set to settled in a court long before any battle on track.
