Feds investigating Liberty Media over Andretti Formula One bid

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department is investigating Liberty Media over possible antitrust violations stemming from its rejection of an American racing team’s proposed entry into the Formula One world championship, the company said Thursday.

The federal inquiry represents another major step in the backlash to the F1 owner’s decision to reject a bid from Andretti Global and General Motors to become the series’ 11th team. Colorado-based Liberty Media canned Andretti’s application in January, even after it got the green light from international motorsport governing body the Federation International de l’Automobile.

During a conference call with investors Thursday morning, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei acknowledged the Justice Department is investigating the Andretti rejection and said that his company plans to fully cooperate with the agency and respond to its requests for information.

But Maffei defended the Formula One owner’s move to block Andretti’s entry into the championship.

“We believe our determination — F1’s determination — was in compliance with all applicable U.S. antitrust laws,” he said, “and we detailed the rationale for our decision vis à vis Andretti in prior statements.”

In the January report in which Formula One management denied the Andretti bid, the organization argued that the Indiana-based racing team would benefit more from an F1 entry than the series would itself. The company also contended that GM, which would enter the championship as a new engine supplier for Andretti’s race cars, would struggle to compete against more established manufacturers including Mercedes and Ferrari.

Maffei said Thursday that the Formula One organization’s decision to scrap the Andretti bid did not mean that the company was not open to expansion teams. He pointed out that there was a “methodology” by which F1 and the FIA determine whether a prospective entrant should enter the championship.

Though it backed Andretti’s bid last year, the FIA has since walked back its support and suggested that the racing outfit should instead purchase an existing team on the Formula One grid.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the announcement that it was investigating Liberty Media.

News of a federal inquiry into Andretti’s F1 entry, which would have been a collaboration with GM’s established racing marque Cadillac, comes just months after members of Congress took an interest in the issue. A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers asked the Federal Trade Commission in May to investigate Liberty Media, who they claimed may have violated U.S. antitrust law by rejecting the American team’s application.

Earlier that month, the House Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, opened its own formal inquiry into Liberty Media. And Mario Andretti — 1978 Formula One world champion and patriarch of the Andretti motorsport dynasty — came to Capitol Hill to plead his case to lawmakers.

“We have done everything that has been asked of us,” he said at the time during a news conference with Michigan Representative John James. “Now it’s time for a decision to be forthcoming.”

A spokesperson for James did not immediately return a request for comment on the Justice Department investigation. The Michigan Republican told Courthouse News outside the House chamber in July that he didn’t have any updates on the Judiciary inquiry.

A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee also did not immediately return a request for comment. Panel aides have previously suggested that lawmakers could drag Liberty Media and Formula One executives up to Capitol Hill to testify.

Federal scrutiny of Liberty Media and Formula One comes as the sport is gaining popularity in the U.S. The championship has added two new U.S. races to its annual calendar: the Las Vegas Grand Prix and Miami Grand Prix. And Red Bull Racing, one of the series’ most successful teams at the moment, held a marketing event just steps from the Capitol in April.

Formula One races have proven an attractive prospect for political figures as well. Former President Donald Trump attended the race in Miami earlier this year, stopping by the McLaren Formula One Team paddock and meeting with McLaren driver Lando Norris. An alleged “scam PAC” known as Democratic Victory held a high-dollar event at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this past November, The Bulwark reported last week.

Meanwhile, Formula One is now the second Liberty Media property to fall under the Justice Department's microscope. The agency is already investigating ticket sales company Live Nation on similar antitrust grounds.

Maffei said Thursday that inquiry was “without merit.”

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit