Wolff and Vowles react to Andretti: 'Understand how you'll grow the sport'

Toto Wolff and James Vowles have publicly commented on Andretti's attempts to join Formula 1. Quoted by Racer both men articulate their reasoning on Andretti's partnership with Cadillac.

Recently, Michael Andretti lashed out hard at the current teams in Formula 1 for allegedly obstructing Andretti's entry. Only McLaren and Alpine were said to be open to Andretti, with the other teams still blocking participation.

Now Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and outgoing strategist James Vowles have had their say on the possible 11th team. At the press conference where Vowles was confirmed as Williams ' new team boss, they were also asked about their attitude towards Andretti. Remarkably, neither man wanted to speak out explicitly for or against Andretti. From their words, however, it is possible to see exactly what their thinking is.

“Cadillac and GM, that’s a statement,” Wolff said. “Certainly them joining forces with Andretti is definitely a positive, gives it another angle that may or may not be beneficial for Formula 1, but nobody would ever question GM or Cadillac’s pedigree in motorsport and obviously as a global auto company.”

“We are always open to the sport growing,” Vowles added. "The truth behind it is financially the sport is becoming more and more successful. Whoever joins in that environment, needs to bring with it the growth that is required for everyone else to be in a better position, or at least a neutral position. There is a lot of lovely things about Andretti and about Cadillac, it just needs to have good understanding of how it will grow the sport, in what way, and what the growth will be.”