Michael Andretti says he is continuing to develop a new Formula 1 team despite being left on hold by the FIA.
The 59-year-old American, who raced in F1 for McLaren in 1993, wants to join an Andretti Global team from the 2024 season.
The project would be the icing on the cake for all the other ventures Andretti is involved in, spanning IndyCar and two of its development series, Formula E, Extreme E, Australian Supercars and American endurance racing.
Trying to become the 11th team in the pit lane, the son of Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, applied to the FIA but is still awaiting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ verdict.
In the meantime, he is pressing ahead with his plans in the hope the answer is yes – after saying last month he felt F1 teams were warming to his proposal after initial scepticism.
Michael has applied to the FIA to field a new F1 team from 2024. His entry, Andretti Global, has the resources and checks every box. He awaits the decision of the FIA.
— Mario Andretti (@MarioAndretti) February 18, 2022
“In the meantime, we are doing a lot of work behind the scenes, we are preparing for it, because we have to start”, Andretti told RACER.
“So we do things hoping that we will have a chance. We have to start moving and hope and pray that the FIA will give us a chance to get in there.
“We were hoping to find out now and unfortunately we don’t. But we hope it will be soon. »
As for what would happen if given the green light, Andretti would have to establish a base in the UK and source power units from Renault.
As for drivers, Colton Herta, who is one of his IndyCar drivers, is set to become the first American on the F1 grid since current teammate Alexander Rossi in 2015.
And this despite the fact that Herta has signed a development program with McLaren.
Andretti said last month: “The good thing is we’ve spoken to a lot of team owners and we’re getting support from all the team owners after hearing our story, so that’s positive. .
“They need to know how serious we are. We’ve all been through them, and I think there’s going to be nothing but good fallout from Colton’s testing and how bad it is for all of us.
“We would be helping the value of Formula 1 and not taking anything away from it, in terms of the value we would bring to the bottom line would basically cover what we would get out of our share of the prize money.
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