FIA president tells Andretti to 'BUY' an existing F1 team rather than set up a new one... as Mohammed Ben Sulayem explains how some outfits on the grid 'need to be refreshed'

Aspiring Formula One team Andretti should buy an existing side rather than set up their own, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has claimed. 

Andretti's bid to join the grid in 2025 or 2026 was denied in January by F1's commerical rights holders Liberty Media - despite being endorsed by the FIA. 

That leaves the American team waiting until at least 2028 to join the 10 sides currently in F1.

Ben Sulayem said: 'I would advise them to go and buy another team, not to come as the 11th team.

'I feel that some teams need to be refreshed. What is better? To have 11 teams as a number or 10 and they are strong?

'I still believe we should have more teams. But not any teams. The right teams.'

He did not reveal the teams he was referring to but likely candidates could include Haas and Alpine, who have scored nine points between them all season.

However, Alpine owners Renault and Gene Haas are not interested in selling up, according to senior F1 sources via the BBC. 

F1 felt that Andretti's entry to join was lacking, claiming in January it did 'not believe the applicant would be a competitive participant'.

However, F1, the commercial rights holder, said Wednesday it is willing to revisit the issue in 2028 when General Motors has an engine ready for competition.

F1 said it did not believe Andretti would be a competitive team, that the Andretti name does not bring the value that Michael Andretti believes it would, and that getting on the grid in the next two years would be a challenge the team has never faced before.

'We do not believe that there is a basis for any new applicant to be admitted in 2025 given that this would involve a novice entrant building two completely different cars in its first two years of existence,' F1 said.

'The fact that the Applicant proposes to do so gives us reason to question their understanding of the scope of the challenge involved.

'Formula 1, as the pinnacle of world motorsport, represents a unique technical challenge to constructors of a nature that the Applicant has not faced in any other formula or discipline in which it has previously competed,' F1 continued. 'On this basis, we do not believe that the Applicant would be a competitive participant.'

F1's governing body, the FIA, accepted Andretti's entry last year, agreeing that they had met the necessary criteria.

However, the sport's commercial arm, Formula One Management, denied the team's bid after discussing the matter with the 10 teams currently on the grid, claiming it would not be competitive by 2025 or 2026. 

This month, twelve members of US Congress penned a letter to Formula 1's parent company, Liberty Media, demanding answers about Andretti Global's rejected bid to join the grid.

'[We have] concerns with the apparent anti-competitive actions that could prevent two American companies, Andretti Global and General Motors (GM), from producing and competing in Formula 1,' the letter read.

They also noted that the decision to bar Andretti, along with its partners GM and Cadillac, could 'violate American anti-trust laws.'