F1: Update on Andretti Global’s effort to enter team in F1 (Update)

We can report that Michael Andretti is here at COTA both yesterday and Friday for meetings and then he is jetting out.

He said at COTA Thursday that the goal remains to have an Andretti Global car on the F1 grid in 2024 with Colton Herta as one of his drivers.

Given this late stage of the game, one could assume that means Andretti is still in talks with a team to buy them out, as we do not see how they could possibly design and test an F1 car and have it on the grid by 2024, having never designed one before.

Andretti Global has backing from financial services enterprise Group101 (primary businesses are insurance companies like Gainbridge) and its CEO Daniel Towriss.

With that said, who are the potential buyout candidates:

1. Williams – owned by New York company Dorilton Capital. There are three directors from Dorilton Capital involved in Williams – including the company’s chairman. Matthew Savage is the chairman of Dorilton, Darren Fultz is Dorilton CEO and co-founder, and along with hedge fund manager James Matthews make up the new Williams board.  Are they interested in selling?
2. Haas – Gene Haas has said no in the past, so unless he has had a change of heart…..
3. AlphaTauri – With reports of his health failing, perhaps Dietrich Mateschitz will sell one of his two F1 teams (AlphaTauri) to Andretti Global. AlphaTauri has fallen to 9th place out of 10 teams this year.  It’s clear that it is no longer a focus for Mateschitz, and we would think a prime buyout candidate.

Should Andretti acquire Italy-based AlphaTauri, one has to wonder if he could entice the most prolific F1 designer of all-time, Aldo Costa, to join their effort.  Costa left Mercedes F1 after designing all of Lewis Hamilton’s championship winning cars (and Michael Schumacher’s before that), to work closer to home in Italy for Dallara, where he joined them in 2020 as Chief Technical Officer. Would Costa have another go at an F1 car in this new ground-effects era?

Mario Andretti joined Any Driven Monday to chat about how close the Andrettis are to joining Formula One.

Mario insists their goal is still to be on the grid in 2024. There is no way that could happen unless they buy another team.  There is no way they can hire all the personnel, design a new F1 car and be on the grid in 18 months time.

AutoRacing1.com has said repeatedly that Andretti Global should combine resources with Porsche and buy an existing team like AlphaTauri.

Perhaps Joe Saward put it best.  Anyone who is serious about getting into F1 needs to make an offer to an existing team that is impossible to refuse.

There are a few teams that are overly laden with debt and need more cash, others where circumstances are changing.

There is very little logic in starting a new team because it will cost more to get it to a competitive state than it will if one buys an existing team.

There is a lot of delusional thinking going on amongst those who think they should be allowed to have entries. In many ways, they are being protected from themselves.