Andretti frustrated: 'We don't drive just to make a profit'

Part of the resistance to Andretti's participation focused on what value that team will add. Putting a new team on the track was not enough: the team must bring something innovative on a technical level.

Andretti's answer to that was Cadillac. The US carmaker - part of the General Motors group - already competes in the hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship and thus wants to make the move to Formula 1 as well. However, criticism of the announced collaboration was also immediately sounded. Cadillac would only want to put the name on the engine but not develop it itself. That would be done by Alpine and so Andretti would still add nothing on a technical level.

'We have never driven anywhere just to make a profit'

Andretti is keen to allay those concerns. "It's not a PR stunt," he explains. "GM also has its pride. They don't just want to latch onto something, they want to bring the technology themselves. That's what interests them about the project. They know what to expect. General Motors already has a motorsport development centre. They will continue to invest in that department to eventually develop all the technical aspects of the car and engine themselves."

Andretti also wants to make it clear that it is not an attempt by his organisation to make a profit and get out of the sport after a few years. "It is a long-term project. Look at our history. Everyone can see what motorsport means to our family. That is our life. We have never driven anywhere just to make a profit. We have already invested a lot and hired engineers who are just waiting for everything to take off. If they didn't believe in us, they would have walked away a long time ago."