"Martin was told to 'fall in line' on this one": Martin Brundle faces backlash from fans for his comments on F1 rejecting Andretti's application

F1 fans have harshly criticized Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle after he defended the sport for rejecting Andretti's entry into the grid for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

The American racing giants had been seeking entry into the sport for quite some time now and even got the approval of FIA to become the 11th team in Formula 1. However, the FIA's approval of Andretti was sternly criticized by the teams and Formula One Management (FOM) as they did not want having an additional team on the grid.

On January 31, the FOM rejected Andretti's bid to have a slot on the grid, citing it will take a lot from the team's end to develop the car for the 2025 season and again for the new regulations in 2026.

Speaking with Sky Sports, Martin Brundle claimed that F1 was 'rightly' treating Andretti as a 'novice' team, saying:

“They’re quite rightly saying that for Andretti as a new team, ‘novice’, as they called them, to build a brand-new car for 2025, and then when the regulations change fundamentally for 2026 to start all over again, it’s too much of a tall order. They think they won’t be competitive.

“Andretti will no doubt say, ‘Well, give us a chance. We’re a mighty organization with a lot of funding, we’ll show you what we can do and look at some of the other teams on the grid’ – so this is going to run for a good while. Also, a really punchy line in there says that ‘this would do more for the Andretti brand than it would for Formula 1’."

F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to the former F1 driver's comments, with one fan on X pointing out that he was told to 'fall in line' by the sport, saying:

"Martin was told to "fall in line" on this one. Pretty sad. By this rationale... no one new gets in. Unless LIV Golf wants to buy a car..."

Fans also claimed that Brundle won't say anything against F1:

Some fans even labeled the move as 'anti-progress':

F1 leaves the door open for Andretti for 2028

The sport in its statement concluded that they had only closed the door for Andretti for the 2025 and 2026 seasons but might look 'differently' in 2028.

As per ESPN, the statement read:

"We would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team designing all allowable components in-house."

Andretti Autosport is yet to respond to their rejection from the pinnacle of motorsport. Hopefully, they will look to make a stronger case in 2028 if the team still harbors the desire to enter F1.