Andretti fiercely rejects rumors: "That couldn’t be further from the truth"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Shortly after the United States Grand Prix, it became clear that the deal between Sauber and Andretti Sports had been called off. Michael Andretti denies the rumours that the deal was cancelled for financial reasons and tells how it went.
Andretti denies
The rumour that Andretti denies so vehemently is the story that the deal with Andretti, who would buy a majority of Sauber's shares, fell through because Andretti Sports refused to agree to Finn Rausing's expensive five-year deal.
The-race.com quotes the American's response to the rumor: “I’d just like to put an end to some of those rumours that the deal fell through because of financial reasons. That couldn’t be further from the truth and it was nothing to do with that."
Why did the Sauber-Andretti deal fall through?
So what was the reason for the cancellation of this deal? Andretti Sports was looking to take a majority stake in the Sauber Group. With that, running the entire F1 team became a major part of discussion.
“It basically came down to control issues in the final hours of negotiations, and that’s what killed the deal. I’ve always said that if the deal is not right, we’re not going to do it. And in the end, it wasn’t right."
Andretti closed with one last fierce message: “I commented earlier, don’t believe the rumours like you were hearing about why it didn’t happen. It had nothing to do with financials or anything like that."