We’ve all been so focused on Porsche or Audi’s return to F1 that we completely missed a new bid from former F1 champion, Mario Andretti’s son, Michael.
The 1978 Formula 1 champ, Mario Andretti, revealed on Twitter that his son, Michael, has just quietly made a bid to enter a new F1 team in 2024.
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.
— Mario Andretti (@MarioAndretti) February 18, 2022
Michael Andretti raced in F1 himself for McLaren in 1993 but it was an unsuccessful season. He however was very successful in IndyCar, amassing 42 race victories, the most in the CART era and the fourth most victories in IndyCar of all time. Since his retirement from racing, Andretti created and owns Andretti Autosport, which has won four IndyCar series and five Indianapolis 500’s. So he knows how to run a team.
Apparently, Andretti has been trying to get back into F1 for a while now and this isn’t his first attempt. He tried to nab Force India when its assets were for sale in 2018 but they were eventually gobbled up by billionaire Lawrence Stroll. Stroll has since rebranded the team as Aston Martin Cognizant so I guess we can’t be too mad.
According to Mario Andretti, his son has been working hard to try and get into F1 to no avail, as he told Autoweek,
, “He’s been working so hard to go for an alternative… if he can’t buy an existing team, he and his group have decided they would embark on this venture. Realistically they’ve done quite a bit of homework before committing with this, tried to align a lot of important aspects.”
What we do know about the team is that the personnel have been scouted, an engine supplier has been reached, and their base of operations would likely be somewhere in the U.K. Manufacturing, however, will likely be located in Indianapolis as Andretti’s IndyCar team headquarters are located there.
As the senior Andretti said, “If you look at all the disciplines [Michael’s] been in, the ultimate goal for a long time for him has been Formula 1, and he felt it rather be sooner than later… Time is of the essence to be able to have a car on the grid in 2024, so he’s trying to hopefully get all the ducks in order as quickly as possible to finalise these things, and they’re pending right now.”
Fun little titbit – former Haas driver, Romain Grosjean, is actually Andretti’s driver in the NTT IndyCar Series, which could maybe mean another we get to see Grosjean again on the grid. Probably not, but still, a man can dream.
There is a problem though. An FIA spokesperson issued the following statement via The Race,
“The FIA is not currently in a position to consider or comment on any expressions of interest or applications received from potential new entrant teams in respect of the FIA Formula One World Championship.”
We will have to wait and see what happens.
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