US congress should not influence F1’s Andretti decision

Formula 1, not the US congress, should be in full control of which teams are permitted to race at the pinnacle of motorsport.

That is the defiant position of Alessandro Alunni Bravi, the spokesman for the now 100 percent Audi-owned Sauber team.

Recently, with Andretti-Cadillac currently locked out of F1 by the sport’s commercial owner Liberty Media, an official US congressional investigation into the "cartel-like" move was launched.

"I’m not overly familiar with the US judicial system," Williams boss James Vowles insists. "What I can state is there was a due process completed by the FIA and FOM, and we don’t have a say in any of that."

Aston Martin’s Mike Krack agrees: "We’re really passengers in this.

"We also just read it on the internet, in between the (Adrian) Newey stories, so I cannot really add anything more," he smiled.

Andretti and General Motors, however, insist that the behind-the-scenes opposition from the existing teams at least contributed to F1’s decision to lock them out of pitlane for now.

Sauber-Audi team representative Alunni Bravi said: "I understand that it may be important for a government to support companies in its own country.

"But I believe that this is a question that should be answered by those in Formula 1 who have the right to make such decisions.

"Just because we have three races in the USA and many American companies are involved in Formula 1 does not automatically mean that we also need a team from the USA. And we already have that anyway - Haas.

"At the same time, we do not have a single team from Saudi Arabia or Qatar, although we race there too," Alunni Bravi concluded.