Andretti Global and its General Motors partners have been working to find a way into Formula 1 for a while, but their efforts have been rebuffed by the sport’s management and some existing teams. Leadership shuffles at Andretti could be the group’s ticket forward, however, as it could eliminate some of the tensions between Andretti himself and F1 stakeholders.
The team’s initial bid was approved by the FIA, but F1 denied the entry, citing commercial and competitiveness concerns. Part of the issue was that Andretti won’t have its in-house power unit (PU) ready for the grid until 2028, but Autoguide’s sources say that the team could lean on Ferrari for a PU in the interim.
Despite the challenges with approval, Andretti has moved forward with car development, and the team recently opened a new facility at Silverstone Park in the UK. The location has already hired more than 250 people at the location, with dozens of new positions listed just in the last few weeks.
Though frustrating for the team, the Andretti-Cadillac Formula 1 bid may have benefitted from the delayed approval. It has been able to avoid F1’s restrictive cost cap and car development rules, giving it more time in the wind tunnel and the ability to spend relatively freely on engineers and materials. That said, F1’s decision on the entry as an 11th team could come as soon as the next few weeks.
[Images: Andretti, GM, Shutterstock]
Source: The Truth About Cars
