The US-based Andretti team’s bid to enter Formula 1 with General Motors’ Cadillac brand has been approved by motorsport’s governing body, the FIA.
Andretti Formula Racing were the only team approved by the FIA out of four candidates who made it to the second phase of the new teams process.
All others were deemed not to have met the required criteria.
Andretti-Cadillac’s bid will now be assessed by rights holders Formula 1 on a commercial basis.
F1 will only admit Andretti if it considers their entry to add value to the championship as a whole.
There is no defined period for this assessment to take place, and it is likely to last some months. F1 is widely expected to reject Andretti’s bid.
A statement from the FIA said each application was assessed based on sporting, technical and financial analysis.
President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “The FIA was very clear in establishing stringent criteria for entry from the outset of the expressions of interest procedure.
“Our objective, after rigorous due diligence during the application phase, was to only approve prospective entries which satisfied the set criteria and illustrated that they would add value to the sport.
“The FIA is obliged to approve applications that comply with the expressions of interests application requirements and we have adhered to that procedure in deciding that Andretti Formula Racing LLC’s application would proceed to the next stage of the application process.
“Andretti Formula Racing LLC was the only entity which fulfils the selection criteria that was set in all material respects.”
The FIA did not reveal the identities of the other teams who were assessed in the second phase of the process, but they are widely known within the sport.
The final four were Andretti, a partnership between New Zealand’s Ronin Cars and the Carlin racing organisation, junior category race team Hitech, and an Asian partnership known as Lucky Suns.
Two other candidates – Formula Eagle, led by former BAR team boss Craig Pollock, and Pantera Team Asia – were ruled out at an earlier stage.
In a statement Formula 1 said: “We note the FIA’s conclusions in relation to the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own assessment of the merits of the remaining application.”
Andretti-Cadillac added: “We appreciate the FIA’s rigorous, transparent and complete evaluation process and are incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to compete in such a historic and prestigious championship.
“We look forward to engaging with all of the stakeholders in Formula 1 as we continue our planning to join the grid as soon as possible.”
