Collaboration with existing F1 team ruled out for Andretti: 'Eleventh team'

Michael Andretti and father Mario Andretti revealed to the press that plans for an Andretti F1 team are still alive and well. Mario Andretti comes out with the latest news, saying that the goal is still to be the 11th team on the grid by 2024.

The Andretti family seems to be well on its way to establishing the 11th F1 team on the grid after very much opposition. Andretti encountered resistance from Liberty Media, the FIA and from the existing F1 teams, but in recent weeks, encouraging news has been resounding from the Andretti camp. For instance, a wealthy investor could ease money worries at other F1 teams. If Andretti gets the green light, he would like to be on the grid as early as 2024.

Michael Andretti will lead the team, but F1 world champion and great racing driver Mario Andretti will undoubtedly have a lot to do with the team. In conversation with Soymotor.com the American updates everyone on the latest developments: "Currently, we have already lost a few opportunities. We tried to buy an existing team, but those opportunities don't seem so clear anymore. So we will try to become the 11th team. You will see we have a good plan."

Many plans have already been made and a lot of preparatory work has been done. For instance, it has been decided that Andretti F1 will keep its headquarters in the United States and build the car from there, but the executive F1 team will be based in the UK close to the other F1 teams. Because so much has been prepared, Andretti hopes to enter F1 as early as 2024: "The sooner we can start, the better. We have talks with the FIA and I can say that a lot of progress is being made."

Andretti says he has spent the past year simply working on the F1 project as if the green light was already there. As a result, almost everything is in place. Key personnel have also been briefed, but are still on standby to start building the car and the team immediately if Andretti is allowed to compete in F1. With this latest update from Mario Andretti, things look even more positive. Indeed, Michael Andretti also reported last week that negotiations were going well, but that they were not sharing everything with the press out of respect for the FIA's conduct.