Bad news for Liberty media as US Congressmen question Andretti's F1 bid rejection

F1 owners Liberty Media were criticized by the US Congressman while questioning the reason behind Andretti Autosport's rejected bid to enter the sport.

The American motorsport giants were denied a slot to form the 11th team on the grid as the Formula One Management (FOM) believed that they would not bring any value to the sport and did not provide any further reasoning.

As per Motorsport.com, earlier this week, former F1 world champion Mario Andretti met US Congressman Republican John James, who is one of the 12 bi-partisan signatories to the letter to discuss the potential FOM's anti-competition stance.

In the latter, the 12 Congressmen questioned Liberty Media about the rejected bid and asked for their responses to the questions.

In their letter, the Congress members wrote to "express our concerns with apparent anti-competitive actions that could prevent two American companies, Andretti Global and General Motors (GM), from producing and competing in Formula 1.”

"FOM’s rejection of the application appears to be driven by the current line-up of European Formula 1 race teams, many of which are affiliated with foreign automobile manufacturers that directly compete with American automotive companies like GM.

The letter added:

"It is unfair and wrong to attempt to block American companies from joining Formula 1, which could also violate American antitrust laws."

Andretti extends their gratitude to the US Congress for their support

The American giants took to their social media platform X to express their gratitude for the support from the 12-member bi-partisan Congress in their letter.

They further claimed that the brand would continue the work to make the possibility of joining F1 in the future a reality, stating:

"We are grateful to the bipartisan members of Congress for their support in challenging this anti-competitive behavior. We remain committed to bringing the first US works team and power unit to F1 and to giving American fans a home team to root for."

"It is our hope that this can be resolved swiftly so that Andretti Cadillac can take its rightfully approved place on the grid in 2026. Our work continues at pace," Andretti added.

It is certainly a strong step taken by Andretti as they seek answers from FOM about their ejected bid while continuing to make ground to get a grid position in the future.

F1 and its owners Liberty Media are yet to respond to the letter from the 12 Congressmen.