Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Andretti Global

  • Andretti team’s bid to enter F1 turned down

    Formula 1 has rejected Andretti’s bid to join the grid as an 11th team in the 2025 or 2026 seasons, but the door remains ajar to a potential entry in 2028 for the American team.

    Andretti’s bid, which has been headed up by former McLaren driver, Michael Andretti and his father Mario, the 1978 world champion, had been passed to F1 for commercial considerations after its application had passed the first two stages of the application process, which were run by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, in October.

    But Formula One Management, as the sport’s commercial rights holder, had the final say, and after several months of detailed analysis into submission, has announced that Andretti’s application has not passed the final test for entry, at least for now.

    Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the Championship. The most significant way in which a new entrant would bring value is by being competitive. We do not believe that the applicant would be a competitive participant. The need for any new team to take a compulsory power unit supply, potentially over a period of several seasons, would be damaging to the prestige and standing of the Championship.

    F1 explaining the steps it took to review Andretti’s case and the reason for its conclusion on the matter.

    Andretti have since released a statement strongly disagreeing with the conclusions reached by Formula 1.

    Andretti Cadillac has reviewed the information Formula One Management Limited has shared and strongly disagree with its contents. Andretti and Cadillac are two successful global motorsports organizations committed to placing a genuine American works team in F1, competing alongside the world’s best. We are proud of the significant progress we have already made on developing a highly competitive car and power unit with an experienced team behind it, and our work continues at pace. Andretti Cadillac would also like to acknowledge and thank the fans who have expressed their support.

    Andretti on the news.

    The door to entry has however, been left open for 2028 by F1 on the provision that General Motors, the American car giant whose Cadillac brand had been backing Andretti’s entry, joined the bid as full works team or customer team.

  • RND 2 – Diriyah E-Prix

    FP1-

    Nissan’s Oliver Rowland went quickest in the Diriyan desert, as the grid prepared to take on the first double header of the season.

    Track evolution meant that the times kept tumbling, although the session was brought to a brief halt as the Envision Racing car of Sebastien Buemi stopped on track.

    Jean Eric-Vergne for DS PENSKE finished the session in second 0.165s behind Rowland, with his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne popping into third.

    The Envision Racing duo of Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns were the first to set the lap times, but quickly the rest of the grid followed. Reigning champion, Jake Dennis was the last to get a time in, but it didn’t impact his session as he finished in the top five.

    Just over halfway through the session, double yellow flags were waved as Buemi came to a stop on the circuit between Turns 3 and 4. He made his way back to the garage, but his car was in a red condition which meant extra precautions had to be taken to remove it from the track.
    As a result of the delay, the session was extended by 12 minutes by the FIA to make sure the drivers got as many laps on the board as possible.

    FP2-

    Andretti’s Norman Nato topped the timesheets in the second Free Practice session, as the drivers took to the epic Diriyah track in the midday sun.
    His teammate, Jake Dennis finished third, with Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther sandwiched between the two in second.

    Teams and drivers headed out in the midday sun to get as much track time and data as they could. Track evolution continues to be rapid here, as the dirt and dust from the desert is kicked up by the grid as they fly around this 2.49km circuit.

    Jake Dennis topped the timesheets with a 1m15.067s as he set the three fastest sectors with 18 minutes to go, and continued to keep locking in faster laps over the session.

    Both Mahindras were looking rapid, with Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries going first and second with 13 minutes left on the clock. De Vries has won here twice before and Mortara has had some amazing overtakes.

    Qualifying-

    DS PENSKE’s Jean Eric-Vergne sealed Julius Baer Pole Position and jumped up to the top of the Drivers’ standings.

    Vergne went up against the Jaguar TCS Racing of Mitch Evans as both drivers and teams were fighting for their first pole at this circuit.

    Group A, was packed with lots of familiar favourites. However it was Cassidy, Dennis, Wehrlein and Evans who made it through. Last year’s polesitter Jake Hughes looked an early favourite, as he pushed his McLaren to the limit and even clipped the wall slightly to get himself half a second clear.
    However, a second attempt at a fast lap led to Hughes making a mistake and not doing enough to improve on his time to finish fifth in the group.

    Group B, the next group took to track shortly after, with plenty of big names trying to make it through to the Duels.

    In the end it was Vergne who went to the top when the chequered flag fell with a 1m 12.856s. Joining him in the Semi’s was Sette Camara who got ERT’s first Duels appearance of the year, Guenther in third and Nato in fourth.

    The biggest shock of the Group Stages were Antonio Felix da Costa as he finished Group B in ninth. The season 6 champion hasn’t looked completely comfortable in his Porsche so far this weekend, so will hope he can make up some good positions.

    The full top 10 from qualifying are- P1: Vergne, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Sette Camara, P5: Nato, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Cassidy, P8: Guenther, P9: Bird and P10: Hughes.

    Round 2-

    Reigning champion, Jake Dennis bounced back from disappointment in the Mexico City season-opener to win by more than 13 seconds in the first round of the Diriyah double-header!

    Polesitter, Jean Eric Vergne had bolted off the line to hold an early lead and was forced into fending off the Jaguar TCS Racing pair of Mitch Ecans and Nick Cassidy as the race reached its climax.

    A last lap lunge from Evans, running third at the time but with second in his sight, cost the Kiwi a podium as he overcooked the stop into Turn 18, handing third to his teammate Cassidy.
    Cassidy, took his own direction on strategy of the leaders, opting to take his two mandatory Attack Mode boosts late on as he clambered through from seventh on the grid at the start.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Vergne, P3: Cassidy, P4: Bird, P5: Evans, P6: Nato, P7: Guenther, P8: Wehrlein, P9: Sette Camara and P10: Frijns.

  • Andretti & Cadillac announce F1 entry plans

    Andretti Global and General Motors have announced plans to enter a new Formula 1 team in the coming years under the latter’s Cadillac brand.

    Andretti revealed last February that it was planning to open an F1 operation in the future, and spent much of the 2022 season discussing the possibility of expanding the field with the existing 10 teams.

    The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed on Twitter last week, that he had asked his team to look at starting the process for expressions of interest from potential new F1 teams, marking a first step to expanding the current 20 car grid.

    In an announcement made last Thursday, Andretti and General Motors revealed their plan to enter an “all-American team” in response to the FIA’s calls for expressions of interest as an Andretti Cadillac team.

    The potential team would initially receive a power unit supply from another engine manufacturer, but both Andretti and Cadillac are set to offer technical support as part of a collaboration.

    The team would operate chiefly out of the new Andretti Global headquarters that is under construction in Fishers, Indiana due to start operations in 2025. A satellite facility would also operate out of Europe for the team, as well as aiding with Andretti’s other racing interests.

    F1 has not had a new team since Haas joined the grid in 2016, but there is understood to be interest from a number of parties about joining the field in the future.

    The process for Andretti and Cadillac to join the grid is one that requires the support of F1 itself and the current teams, only two of which have been publicly supportive of Andretti’s plans amid concerns of the potential financial impact.

    Any new teams which join the F1 field is required to pay a $200 million fee as a dilution fund that is split between the current grid to make up for splitting the teams’ payouts with another entrant.

    Since first discussing plans to join the F1 grid, Andretti has been vocal about wishing to field an American driver in one of its seats, namely Colton Herta who races for Andretti Autosport in IndyCar.

    We are continuing to grow Andretti Global and its family of racing teams and always have our eyes on what’s next.  feel that we are well suited to be a new team for Formula 1 and can bring value to the series and our partners, and excitement for the fans. I’m proud to have GM and Cadillac alongside us as we pursue this goal. GM and Andretti share a legacy born out of the love of racing. We now have the opportunity to combine our motorsport passions and dedication to innovation to build a true American F1 bid.

    Michael Andretti, the chairman and CEO of Andretti Global.

  • Andretti to be powered by Renault

    The name Andretti is well known in motorsport, with Andretti Autosport competing in the IndyCar Series, IndyCar Lights, Indy Pro 2000 and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% stake in the Australian Supercars Championship, Walkinshaw Andretti United and a stake in the Extreme E team, Andretti United.

    Last year saw Michael Andretti in talks to buy Alfa Romeo but due to the main shareholder not wanting to sell this deal fell through. But, last week saw Andretti apply for his own Formula One team, to be entered for the 2024 season.

    Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 World Champion took to twitter on Friday the 18th revealing the Andretti name wanting to enter F1 writing: “Michael has applied to the FIA to field a new F1 team starting in 2024. His entry Andretti Global, has the resources and checks every box. He is awaiting the FIA’s determination.”

    Following on from this a week later, it has been revealed by Mario Andretti that Andretti Global will be powered by Renault power units in 2024…

    Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi has recently said that right now would not be good time for Renault to supply a second team, he did say though the company was “open” to do so down the line. Well could 2024 be that line, and that second team be Andretti Global?

    “We have a formal agreement now on the engine supplier and its out there, so its going to be Renault and I’m allowed to say that now” Mario Andretti said this to David Land in an interview.

    The engine supplier is not the only aspect that the team has decided, Andretti Globabl has even fount the premises for its UK base.

    “We’re not just new boys in town,” he said in an interview with David Land. “We know the prerequisites and also there’s a time factor here. Once we said go ahead, we’ve got to go. So a lot of work has been done. We know where the property, where the facility is going to be built. in the UK. We know we have people, prominent individuals that have done this type of work as far as start-ups. We have a lot of things in mind.”

    The 1978 World Champion added: “There’s a lot of steps to take here and I understand that, it’s a huge undertaking. But we’re ready for it. We have incredible partners on our side, Michael does, and we’re there for the duration. Myself, I’ve been at it for 67 years now so we know what goes on on all sides of the Atlantic. And this is a great undertaking, a wonderful undertaking on Michael’s part. This shows that he’s very, very ambitious in the sport. That’s his business, period.”

    My Opinion-

    I think if Andretti do get the approval from the FIA, this will be brilliant, we need another Formula One team as there is so many drivers slipping through and not getting to F1 when in fact they deserve a spot.

    As well as this, having a name like Andretti in the sport may get a higher reach of F1 in America and bring new fans not just to F1 but the feeder series too. It seems like only positives can come out of this if it gets accepted.