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SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom — Andretti Global continues to plan as if it will race in Formula 1 starting in 2026 and will be “100% ready” to join the grid, according to Michael Andretti.
In January, F1 announced that it had rejected Andretti-Cadillac F1’s proposed entry for 2025 or 2026, saying the team would neither be competitive nor bring commercial value to the sport. That leaves the door open for 2028, when Cadillac parent General Motors has committed to building its own power unit.
Andretti responded by saying he “strongly disagreed” with F1’s assessment of his entry, which had already been approved by the FIA, and that he would continue his work to rejoin the grid “at pace”.
On Wednesday, Andretti officially opened its new satellite factory at Silverstone, which it plans to use as a European base for its F1 team. The 48,000 square foot facility will operate in conjunction with its planned global headquarters in Fishers, Indiana, where the F1 car would be built and manufactured, as well as GM’s base in North Carolina.
Andretti F1 staff members attended a speech by Michael Andretti, CEO and President of Andretti Global, and his father, Mario, 1978 F1 World Champion, to mark the official opening of the venue.
💬 “It’s important to be present here.”
An exciting day for the opening of our new facility at Silverstone, which will support our headquarters in Indianapolis. pic.twitter.com/se8VM0ZGY6
–Andretti Global (@AndrettiGlobal) April 10, 2024
Michael Andretti said in his speech that entering F1 would “achieve our goal” of competing in all top-level racing series, beyond his involvement in seven series including IndyCar, Formula E and Supercars .
He said Athleticism The opening of the factory was “a big step to show the commitment we are going to have” to F1, as well as helping to create jobs. The team has already recruited talent from many existing F1 teams and ultimately plans to expand from its current workforce of around 120 to 400 people at the new facility.
Andretti believes the green light from F1 would speed up the recruitment process. “Once people hear that the project is approved, those who are staying away will start jumping in very quickly,” he said.
“We obviously need this to happen as soon as possible because we still have a lot of work to do. But in the meantime, we are quite far away.
“I think you’d be amazed at how far along we are in developing cars and things like that. It was really impressive.
Before F1’s rejection in January, Andretti revealed his extensive preparations included running a prototype F1 car in the wind tunnel. He also plans to design a full-size prototype F1 car by the end of this year.
Asked if an F1 car would be ready to race for 2026, Andretti replied: “Absolutely, 100%. No question.” He added that the team was “100% planning” for this eventuality.
Continue the push
The 10 existing F1 teams have always been lukewarm about Andretti’s aspirations, fearing the financial impact that a possible dilution of bonuses could have on their business models.
F1 said in its rejection announcement in January that it did not believe extending the grid to an 11th team would bring value to the championship, while casting doubt on the competitive merits of the project.
F1 also claimed that Andretti had not accepted an offer to attend an in-person meeting in December to discuss his entry. Andretti said he was unaware of any such invitation and was eager to discuss his plans with F1. It later emerged that the email had ended up in a spam folder.
Michael Andretti said the team was “putting pressure” in the process with F1 to display not only its level of commitment, but also the commercial advantage it would have over the wider sport.
“We have meetings with them and we just show them…I don’t think they understand the level of commitment that we have here, not only from us, but also from General Motors,” Andretti said.
“They didn’t see it. They didn’t ask us about it, and now we’re going to make them aware of everything we’re doing, to show them that what we’re going to do, we’re not sharing the pie, we’re just helping each other expand the cake. (F1 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
“The United States is still very fertile. I think with what we’re doing, we can really open it up a lot more and make it more lucrative, not just for us, but for the whole series.
Andretti claimed “tons” of American sponsors have expressed interest in working with the team amid the current boom in interest in F1 in the United States.
“They’re just sitting there waiting, they’re excited about what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s also something that has never been done before. We’re going to be an all-American team with a car built on American soil, an American engine, an American driver, American ownership.
“I think corporate America would love to be a part of it.”
(Main photo by Michael Andretti: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)