Andretti Not Giving Up On Putting A Team In F1
There's going to be an American driver on the grid next season in Williams's Logan Sargeant. So then why not another American team?
Even better, an American team with the name Andretti.
It's no secret that the Andrettis — Michael and 1978 F1 champ Mario — want to put a team on the grid but have routinely been shot down in no uncertain terms.
Still, Michael Andretti has been clear on the team's plans to continue its plans of fielding a team in F1.
“Yeah we’re still moving forward,” Michael said, according to The Race. “We’re still working hard. I think we made pretty good progress in the last couple of months and we’re not giving up.”
The Andretti to F1 saga started in 2021, with news that Andretti Autosports had been kicking the tires on buying Sauber, which currently races as Alfa Romeo.
That fell through, so he looked to add a brand new team to the grid which would use the name Andretti Global.
Although not everyone is crazy about this idea
Like his dad 1978 F1 champion Mario, Michael Andretti raced in Formula 1. he spent the 1993 F1 season racing for McLaren alongside legendary driver Ayrton Senna. (Photo by Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images)
F1 And Other Teams Aren't Keen On An Andretti Entry
At the start of the 2022 season, the Andrettis claimed to have submitted paperwork to the FIA, but that's the extent of what's known.
There's no word what that paperwork even was, but that hasn't stopped the younger Andretti — who raced in F1 himself — from being very vocal about his plans for a new team.
However, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said that isn't necessarily helping his cause.
“It’s a matter of understanding not only the ones that have a bigger or louder voice, there will be others – Andretti was quite vocal about his request, but there are others that are saying in a different way,” Domenicali said over the summer.
Other F1 teams have either been resistant to the idea of expanding the grid beyond 10 teams and if that were to happen, many want that team to belong to a new engine supplier.
That would not be Andretti Autosport.
Still, the team is moving ahead like an F1 debut is in its future. It's building a $200 million headquarters near Indianapolis.
The F1 team as well as Andretti Autosport's IndyCar and other programs would be based here. However, most of the day-to-day operations would have to happen in Europe for obvious logistical reasons.
This is similar to the only American team currently on the grid Haas, which operates out of the United Kingdom. Their US base is in Kannapolis, North Carolina alongside facilities for NASCAR's Stewart-Haas Racing.
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