The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an antitrust investigation into Liberty Media over F1's refusal to allow Andretti Global to enter the sport.

Ahead of a conference call with investors, Liberty revealed that it had "received notification from the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division that an investigation has been opened with respect to Formula 1's conduct concerning the application by Andretti Formula Racing to enter the FIA Formula One World Championship".

During the subsequent conference call, Liberty Media's President and CEO, Greg Maffei shed further light on the investigation.

"We intend to fully cooperate with that investigation, including any related request for information," he said. "We believe our determination, or F1's determination, was in compliance with all applicable U.S. antitrust laws.

"We've detailed the rationale for this decision vis-a-vis Andretti in prior statements," he added. "We are certainly not against the idea that any expansion is wrong.

"However, there is a methodology for expansion that requires approval of the FIA and the F1 and both groups have to meet find the criteria met. We're certainly open to new entrants making applications and potentially being approved if those requirements are met."

In May, a number of senators, including Amy Klobuchar, expressed concern that the sport was potentially violating U.S. antitrust law by assisting mainly European rival teams, "including foreign automakers", to block Andretti, which had previously announced its partnership with GM and Cadillac.

While the FIA accepted Andretti's bid, concurring that it had met the "stringent criteria" required, F1 - with the full support of the majority of the existing teams - rejected the American team insisting that it would not be competitive and would not add value to the series.

"We have serious concerns that the rejection of Team Andretti-Cadillac was based on a desire to exclude a rival from the race track, marketing opportunities, and prestige that competing in F1 can lend to a car manufacturer competing to sell cars across the globe," said the senators in May.

Despite the rejection, Andretti has been pressing ahead with its programme, establishing a European hub at Silverstone and taking on numerous personnel, not least F1's own former technical boss, Pat Symonds.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by trackrecords, 15/08/2024 19:11

"@ Team Hack. I don't know how deep you are into old age, but in my case I can remember info both old and new. My problem is at times having an intense lethargy, where I don't read news reports/items as often as I could/should, leading to missing a vital aspect that has intense ramifications. Two huge ones being regarding overalls: when did they stop being so 'bulky'?; when did printing replace embroidery on overalls [I realise that it was done for fire integrity]?"

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2. Posted by kenji, 13/08/2024 12:53

"@Ed. Yes, you certainly did. The reason I've mentioned it again is that nothing much happened in public to progress those instances with further action, at the time, and now that the issue is gaining traction again I thought to mention it as a reminder of those comments. "

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3. Posted by Editor, 13/08/2024 5:58

"@ Kenji

Again, I think you'll find that Pitpass covered this...

https://www.pitpass.com/77762/Mario-Andretti-claims-Liberty-CEO-personally-threatened-to-block-teams-F1-entry"

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4. Posted by kenji, 13/08/2024 0:50

"On top of this inquiry there are the comments attributed to Greg Maffei where he allegedly said to Mario Andretti that he will do 'everything in my power to make sure that Michael never enters F1'. That statement has never,AFAIK, been refuted by Maffei. On it's own it's quite a menacing statement ot make and one which I'm sure the DOJ will look at,but if not then it should!."

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5. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 12/08/2024 18:39

"US Government can get the FIA to reevaluate their stance real quick if it needs to go there.

There's a lot of American pride for GM and the Andretti's. "

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6. Posted by Team Hack, 12/08/2024 17:15

"Well I am stunned, I don't know how I missed that.

I would have not forgotten that 'about face'

Old age is wonderful isn't it?

Apologies!!

Quick nurse! the screens!"

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7. Posted by Editor, 12/08/2024 14:32

"@ Kenji and Team Hack

While you are checking the net, you might want to give Pitpass a try...

https://www.pitpass.com/77833/Ben-Sulayem-tells-Andretti-to-buy-a-team
"

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8. Posted by Team Hack, 12/08/2024 14:20

"@ Kenji Thanks
Cheers"

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9. Posted by kenji, 12/08/2024 13:23

"@Team Hack....I don't have any direct links but you can check the net for bin Sulayem's statement that he supported Liberty's reasons for rejection of the Andretti app. IMO this is a reversal of his/FIA's conclusions. Others may not agree."

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10. Posted by Team Hack, 12/08/2024 12:54

"I think first we need to know what started the bad blood between Michael Andretti and Greg Maffei as I feel this could be the key to the whole sorry mess. It appears to be longstanding.

@kenji I had not realised the FIA/Sulaymen had reversed their support,do you have any info you could add to that? It seems extraordinary after them giving the green light.

There must be more to it than just the teams wanting to hang onto their gold..."

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11. Posted by kenji, 12/08/2024 10:13

"Up until now the various teams individual inputs into the Liberty decisions have been disguised somewhat. The DOJ inquiry may just open things up and hopefully we will see upon what basis the rejection was determined. The reasons given appear to be based on economic and structural considerations....made by whom and based on what evidence? I certainly hope that we will get some clarity as I believe one, possibly two new teams would open up more slots for new young drivers to get a drive. What we may also find out is just what caused the FIA/ bin Sulayem to reverse support. That was a left field revelation......"

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12. Posted by Chester, 11/08/2024 16:22

"Given Andretti's long pedigree and GM backing I think the US DoJ will sting Liberty in the butt. I normally don't like government interference, but this is a clear case of abuse by Liberty."

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13. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 10/08/2024 16:25

"It should be an easy lay-up for the DOJ. All the evidence to support anti-competitive and cartel behavior in audio, video and written word of the teams, Domenicali and Liberty Media all singing from the same hymn book of "we don't need more than 10 teams." is all laid bare for them. "

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14. Posted by Vladimir, 10/08/2024 15:23

"While it is perfectly fine to have 3 races in the U.S. (Miami, Austin and Las Vegas), and rumors of still another venue, perhaps Chicago, it remains that the powers that be just can’t accept an American team in the sport. If I’m not mistaken, the current rules allow for as many as 26 cars on the starting grid, so there is obviously room for at least 3 more teams. And if the greed is so bad that the teams are afraid of sharing the prize money, the simple solution would be to only give rewards to the top 10 teams."

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15. Posted by Burton, 10/08/2024 13:51

""We are certainly not against the idea that any expansion is wrong." - yeah, we noticed."

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DoJ to investigate Liberty Media over Andretti rejection

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