“He said, ‘I will do everything in my power to see that Andretti never enters F1’” - Mario Andretti says F1 owner made a big claim about their team

Former F1 world champion Mario Andretti revealed a shocking conversation he had with the Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei during the Miami GP. In an interview with NBC, Andretti revealed that Maffei said that he would do everything in his power to not let Andretti into Formula 1.

The F1-Andretti saga began when the sport's governing body, the FIA, opened up invitations for an 11th team on the grid. In a process that included multiple prospects, Andretti came out on top.

The next step involved approval from the FOM, which was subsequently rejected. While it is quite clear that the American manufacturer has put together a ton of investment and brought Cadillac to the table, the incumbent 10 teams on the grid are not in favor of bringing an 11th competitor. The reason continues to be the reluctance to have a further dilution of funds that would happen when an 11th team comes on board.

The Andretti team, for its part, got US Congressmen to sign a letter that was sent to the Liberty Media boss to question the rejection. There's a suggestion that Liberty Media could see a legal battle on its hands with US antitrust laws coming into the picture. Against this backdrop, it was revealed that Mario Andretti had a meeting with the FOM president Stefano Domenicali during the Miami GP weekend.

Mario Andretti claimed that he was told by Liberty Media's Greg Maffei during this meeting that his team would never feature in F1. In a conversation with NBC, Andretti revealed (via PlanetF1):

“I was asked to go there. And just as I was trying to explain that to Stefano, Greg Maffei, Mr. Maffei, broke in the conversation and he said: ‘Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael [Andretti] never enters Formula 1’.”

He added:

"I could not believe that. That one really floored me. … We’re talking about business. I didn’t know it was something so personal. That was really — oh, my goodness. I could not believe it. It was just like a bullet through my heart.”

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F1 management denies the claims made by Andretti

The NBC report added that Liberty Media has denied the comments made by Greg Maffei. According to the report, Andretti and Maffei had a chat in which Mario was told that the entry was denied due to business reasons.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner was also recently questioned about his views on Andretti being the 11th team on the F1 grid, to which he didn't seem overtly in favor of having the American brand onboard. As quoted by Formu1a.uno, he said:

"It's going to be the same discussion as to whether teams want more. And the promoter wants more. But what we have works relatively well. I think the foundations are all relatively solid. I think as the sport continues to evolve and grow, there are areas where we can fine-tune the deal, but I think the fundamental foundation will be fine-tuning rather than revolutionizing it."

This is going to be tricky for all parties involved, but it remains to be seen how the F1 management takes a call, especially with the US Congress now involved.