Michael Andretti , former motorsport driver and current owner of the Andretti Autosport IndyCar team, has submitted an application to be part of the Formula 1 grid from the 2024 season and hopes that the answer will reach him before next month, so that to start speeding up preparations for your arrival.
Applying is just one of the ways to build a team in F1, while the other, much more common way is to buy a structure. In the case of Andretti, he had already tried this second option, with Alfa Romeo and Haas , before deciding to try to start from scratch.
Some current teams, such as McLaren , think that Andretti’s presence would be very positive, but others, such as Mercedes and Red Bull, are more skeptical. The latter have made it clear through their team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner that Andretti will have to demonstrate the benefits he can bring to F1 if he is to be welcomed.
“Andretti has a name, that’s for sure,” Wolff said during pre-season testing in Barcelona. “And the American market is important, but each team that joins has to add value.”
“It’s not just about paying $200m entry fee anymore, but it also needs to show, in my opinion, what it can do for the other teams, for F1 and for the FIA. Only then will the category grow.”
In response to comments being made about his entry into Formula 1, Andretti told Motorsport.com he was surprised by the stance some of his potential future rivals had shown.
“I was, yes I was,” he explained. “I thought it would be a piece of cake to do it and push forward, but nothing is done that way in Formula 1.”
“We have submitted an inscription and we need approval. I hope that people understand that we are not thinning out, that is what Toto says, that we are thinning out, but no, it is not like that,” said the American.
“In the first place, we are going to bring 200 million dollars and, secondly, we believe that we are going to increase the figures in the United States by about 100 million dollars (almost 90 million euros), with everything that surrounds having a team American and a pilot from that country.
Andretti has opted for a new entry after talks about taking over Alfa Romeo foundered last year at the last minute. After reflecting on what happened, Andretti commented that the situation was difficult to accept.
“That was a joke,” he said. “We were there, it was done. We had a set day to sign it and they changed the terms literally two days before.”
“They wanted to keep control. I was like ‘no, they can’t keep control’. They wanted veto power on everything, all of a sudden. It was horrible.”
“We lost a lot of time. If we hadn’t done it, we would have been a lot ahead of everything else,” he said.
Andretti admits to having sounded out Gene Haas about the possible purchase of his team but, so far, has been unsuccessful in his proposals.
“Gene Haas didn’t want to sell,” he added. “I’ve asked him about five or six times.”
