Team bosses urge Andretti to follow Audi's route into F1 by purchasing an existing team.
Of course, why wouldn't they... as recent communications out of Washington have pointed out last season only one team other than Red Bull won a race, while "half the teams have failed to win a race in the past four seasons combined".
Alpine appears to be a team all at sea and on the verge of looking for the exit door - not for the first time - Haas is but a shadow of its former self and Williams is still playing catch-up after its facilities and infrastructure were found to be twenty years out of date.
Thanks to the 'boom', which is seeing F1 rake in record amounts of money, just like race hosting fees, the supposed value of teams has gone through the roof, with Zak Brown recently claiming that every team is now worth "north of £1m".
As the Andretti saga becomes more bitter, team bosses, who have made no secret of their desire not to welcome an eleventh team, have urged the American outfit to follow Audi's example.
"Andretti has great racing heritage," said Christian Horner. "Mario is a legend of the sport, and of course, Cadillac, a huge automotive manufacturer from the US.
"I think Formula 1 have said in 2028," he added, referring to F1's claim that a 2028 entry is possible, "if they were to come with their own engine, they would obviously, I think, review it.
"But in addition to that, I think that if Andretti were to want to come, a little like Audi acquired Sauber, I think to protect the current franchise and stability that we have in the sport, then obviously their best route to goal is to acquire one of the existing teams."
"I think that Audi shows the right path to come to Formula 1," added Stake (Sauber) boss Alessandro Alunni Bravi. "Of course, Cadillac is a big player and it qualifies this project as a potentially good project. But there is a way that is to buy into an existing team. And I think that the process put in place by Formula 1 is a clear one. Very robust project. So I think that they know which could be the way."
"I think we're all on the same line," greed Bruno Famin, whose Alpine (Renault) outfit would probably bite off the Andretti hand in its eagerness to sell and walk away from the sport. "Big name, Andretti, Cadillac, but we have to be very careful not to dilute and to preserve the value of the championship and for the teams as well.
"There are two ways, they buy a team or they bring enough value to the championship to compensate. But I think it's the same story from the very beginning."
Asked about the latest move, whereby a number of senators have called on the Department of Justice to get involved, RB boss, Peter Bayer, who was formerly with the FIA, said: "There are very clear procedures.
"The FIA has done a technical analysis. Formula 1 has then analysed the commercial potential, and that's sort of, I think, the environment we are currently dealing with.
"I certainly believe that, you know, the sport has done a lot to reach out to the United States. You know, we have three races in the U.S. We have two American sponsors. So I think the sport as a whole is embracing the United States, but has nothing to do with what we've just heard."
"We're US-owned," added Horner. "We have five Fortune 500 companies on our car. I think that this isn't about anything to do with Andretti being American or anything like that. I think it's purely down to the business model that is Formula 1.
"I mean, I remember not so long ago that there would always be two teams at the tail end of the grid needing to be bailed out or being technically insolvent. We finally got into a position where there's great strength and health in Formula 1 and Liberty have to be congratulated for that because they've created a model where even the worst team in Formula 1 probably has a billion-dollar valuation and you know Liberty have created that model.
"I think the approach that they bought by opening the sport as well and bringing a new fandom and new fans into the sports, they have to be commended on and I was surprised to see that Andretti have gone down this process but hopefully if they really want to find a way onto the grid they will find it and but I think the most natural solution is for them to acquire an existing franchise should one want to sell."
So essentially it remains a private club and the existing members have pulled up the drawbridge behind them. New members are definitely not welcome, but if you want to buy a struggling outfit at an inflated price, whilst having to accept its location, facilities, infrastructure and disillusioned, depleted workforce, then sign right here.
If Andretti were to go down this route it would probably be best served by waiting a couple of years until reality returns to the sport, and its true value emerges.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Monaco here.
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