Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Michael Andretti

  • 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.

  • 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.