Andretti announces plans for new $200m headquarters ...Forget the cost....it's about tactics and strategy.
Real reasons are listed below, and sponsoring companies will pay the bills anyway.

real reasons are listed below.

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | August 22, 2022 10:44 AM ET

Andretti Global will invest $200,000,000 in a new 575,000 square-foot shop in Fishers, Indiana, with the goal of moving into the facility by 2025.

According to the team, the shop will “occupy approximately 90-acres alongside the up-and-coming Nickel Plate Trail, the Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve and near the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. The new global headquarters would add up to 500 jobs to the local community by early 2026.”

The sprawling facility will house “Andretti’s global commercial functions and the base of operations for the team’s current NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and IMSA programs and other future racing initiatives. In addition to housing day-to-day operations for the racing team, the building will be home to the advanced research and development of Andretti Technologies. The collaborative campus will feature modern technologies and create a work-life environment for the benefit of our team, fans and partners.”

The new shop is the third of its kind to be announced this year, with Arrow McLaren SP and IndyCar driver Graham Rahal recently announcing large new bases to be constructed in Indiana for their respective racing and business operations.

“Indiana holds an important place in the history of racing, and in my career as a driver and an owner; I’m happy to confirm that the Racing Capital of the World will continue to be the home of our global racing efforts for a long time to come,” said company owner Michael Andretti. “We’re excited about our plans for the new campus and looking forward to becoming a part of the Fishers community.

“Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked to expand our operations and I’m proud of our steps to create a diverse racing portfolio.

“Our current facility has served us well. Our team has expanded in both competition and commercial areas and our people deserve the best environment and resources available. I’m excited to have so many of our teams under one roof as we continue to build and grow.

“For us, it’s about more than just having somewhere to work on the cars; it’s about having a global motorsport home and sharing that with our people, our fans and our sponsors to advance the sport and leave a lasting legacy.” What a bunch of bull. The real reasons are:
-near the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport will save a ton of money moving our teams around
-as well as shipping cars crew, etc to Europe for F1 races.
-Ease of coordinating for staff meetings for:
-base of operations for the team’s current NTT IndyCar Series,
-base of operations for the team’s current Indy Lights
-base of operations for the team’s current IMSA programs
-and other future racing initiatives of any kind
- housing day-to-day operations for various racing teams,
- home to the advanced research and development of Andretti Technologies.
-The collaborative campus will feature modern technologies
-create a work-life environment for the benefit of our team, fans and partners.and people with cash in their pocket.”
-Provide a place to stash cash as a business expense to keep the govt from getting it.
-One heck of a real estate sale and cash out when it's time to quit racing for good. 90,000 acres.....

 

Andretti’s Edwards ponders changes ahead for the team

Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images: two guys playing video poker
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | September 8, 2022 12:49 PM ET

Andretti Autosport arrives at the NTT IndyCar Series season finale with a number of changes on its horizon.

Alexander Rossi is the highest profile adjustment on the books with his upcoming departure for Arrow McLaren SP. The team will also welcome its 2021 Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood back into the family after the checkered flag waves on Sunday, and then there’s the question of whether its lead driver, Colton Herta, could be heading off to try and join the Formula 1 grid with AlphaTauri.

Asked if the team has a new driver in position to replace Herta in the No. 26 Honda if needed, Andretti Chief Operating Office Rob Edwards (pictured at left, above, with team boss Michael Andretti) suggested there’s no need to look beyond the car’s current solution. If we told him in advance that we were going to fire his butt, he might drive slower to get back at us.

“I don’t think it’s gonna look any different next year than it looks this year,” he told RACER.

Prior to Brian Barnhart taking over as race strategist on the No. 27 Honda, Edwards spent the majority of Rossi’s tenure with Andretti Autosport on his timing stand and witnessed the Californian’s best days in IndyCar. He’s among many within the team who will miss Rossi’s presence as a friend and hardcore competitor.

“Certainly, we’re finishing on good terms all the way round,” Edwards said. “The thing that I’m happiest about is since Indy onwards, Alex and the whole 27 group seem to have found some mojo again. It’s good because it’s not like we’re stumbling towards the end of the year. It’s been good to see it all get back to heading to what we know it can be.”

Although Rossi’s leaving in a matter of days, Edwards says the 30-year-old has made a lasting impact on Andretti Autosport that will be felt long after he’s switched to Arrow McLaren SP. He also believes the driver AMSP is receiving can point to his seven years at Andretti as a transformational time in his career.

“I think we’ll go our own ways for next year, both having grown and benefited from the relationship,” Edwards said. “For me, I think the biggest thing that I’ve enjoyed seeing is the way Alex was perceived when he first came into the series as being distant and aloof, and so on. And probably because of my perverse English background, I knew in there was a really good sense of humor. I think it’s been great for the team, great for Alex, great for the series over the time we’ve been together, to see how much that has come out and the way that he’s viewed and recognized.
Edwards says the way Rossi’s personality has emerged during his stint with the team has been particularly rewarding to see. Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

“As much as he obviously does when he’s driving, he’s been an excellent teammate; I think he exemplifies that. When he came in, he was the new guy and built those relationships, particularly with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Then with Ryan leaving this year, he and Colton are very close. And even Devlin [DeFrancesco] — over the course of the year, Alex has really taken Devlin under his wing and helped Devlin, which has been great as well.”

Edwards wouldn’t be drawn on whether the team has a farewell planned for Rossi — a pie to the face, or some other mischief — like pouring a beer down the crack of his butt, but does hope to end their working relationship on a high.

“We will see…there’s a team dinner before the race and we’ll see what happens from there on out through the rest of the weekend,” he said. “Hopefully, we can finish it off by being on the podium. That would be a good way to say goodbye, wouldn’t it? We can always play some dirty trick on him once the race is over....like maybe plugging up the dump pipe on his motor
home, so it fills the coach with toilet poop the next time he flushes."

 

Wayne Taylor Racing teams up with Andretti Autosport in IMSA

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | December 28, 2022 10:00 AM ET

Former American Le Mans Series powerhouse and current part-time IMSA LMP3 contender Andretti Autosport has purchased an ownership stake in Wayne Taylor Racing and formed the new Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport program.

The union will bring Andretti Autosport into IMSA’s new WeatherTech SportsCar Championship hybrid GTP class where WTR with AA represent Acura through the No. 10 ARX-06 program (pictured above) and its new GT Daytona entry with the No. 93 Harrison Contracting Company Acura NSX Evo22. WTR with AA will also remain in LMP3, giving it three classes of WeatherTech Championship representation through the project created by Jarett Andretti.The final area of collaboration is found in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series where WTR has maintained a long and successful presence.

“It’s an honor to be partnering with a name like Andretti as we enter a new era of racing,” Wayne Taylor said. “I was approached by Michael a year ago and, as we all know, timing is everything, especially as our GTP and GTD programs continue to grow with Acura/HPD. Having worked with Michael on this for nearly a year, I’m very excited to see it come together.

“While our 2023 program won’t look much different, there is a lot that Andretti Autosport can offer to us as we continue to build and expand. I’m looking forward to working closer with Michael, (Andretti Autosport president) J-F (Thormann), (Andretti COO) Rob (Edwards) and the entire Andretti team.” If you got some rich Mofo with $200mill, I'm in!

The Indiana-based WTR with AA team will continue to work from WTR’s shop in Brownsburg, but with Andretti Autosport building a new mega facility in the nearby town of Fishers (pictured below), the WTR with AA IMSA operation run by Travis Houge could be on the move once the shop opens in 2025.
The WTR with AA could eventually be housed in Andretti Autosport’s new facility in Fishers, Ind.

“This is an exciting time for us,” Michael Andretti said. “We’re proud to be returning to the IMSA paddock in this way and the opportunity to be part of the launch of the GTP program alongside Wayne Taylor Racing and our friends at Honda Performance Development.

“Re-entering IMSA full time, and at this level, has been a goal of mine. I wanted it to be the right opportunity and at the right time — and we’ve found that. I’m looking forward to working closer with the team at WTR and meeting all the team’s strong supporters.

“I want to personally thank Wayne and Travis (Houge) for already being such great partners as we plan for a successful future.”

 

Le Mans and WEC a goal for WTR-Andretti partnership

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 23, 2023 12:43 PM ET

Filipe Albuquerque is unambiguous when he says he’d rather be competing in an Acura for an overall victory at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans instead of in an LMP2 car. The new partnership between Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti Autosport may just give him that opportunity in the coming years.

“One hundred percent. [Le Mans] is definitely a goal for us,” said Michael Andretti during a press conference during the Roar Before the 24 prelude to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. “With our new partners that we have with Andretti global, our goal is to be in every major racing event in the world. And obviously, LeMans is one of the big ones. And so, down the road, we definitely want to be there.”

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VIDEO: Rolex 24 qualifying recap with Goodwin, Bourdais and HPD's Salters

Wayne Taylor added that it’s the one race his team hasn’t won overall and is high on his list of goals. Taylor has a class win as a driver at Le Mans, but not an overall win.

Of course, the best way to get an entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans is to race the full season of the World Endurance Championship, and Andretti says that’s the goal as well.

“That’s no secret either. We’re going to have a satellite facility over in Europe. We already have one we’re setting up and it’s going to be bigger. And one of the objectives is to hopefully have a WEC team out of there in the next few years.”

Andretti Autosport and Wayne Taylor Racing announced last month that Andretti was taking an interest in the multi-time IMSA SportsCar Championship team. Taylor says he really became open to the idea at last month’s test. While the team has taken the fight to the likes of Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske and Meyer Shank Racing over the years, Taylor said he realized that with the greater demands of the LMDh formula in the new GTP class, he needed a way to elevate his team.

“It started early on in the year Michael and I started talking and it became evident when we came to do the test here, the first test when I think we had 91 people around the car,” said Taylor. “And I was walking up and down the pit and thinking, what the heck am I going to do here? We need to step up to the next level. And I called Michael and said I think I’m ready to do this partnership. And Michael and J-F [Thorman] and and Rob [Edwards] flew down. And we literally did it there.

“In order to compete now against Ganassi and Penske, and everybody else, we just felt that we needed to have a partnership with someone who could bring a lot to the table. Although we’ve been in sports car racing longer than them, they have major assets that that are going to be helping us and are helping us with people and technology and so on. And, and so far, it’s been just really fantastic working with Michael and the guys and the drivers and very excited about the long term future.”

Adding a bit of kismet to the deal was the fact that Honda is a partner with Andretti in IndyCar, although Honda Performance Development had no involvement in the deal. Of course, Andretti also has ties to Acura’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship rival Cadillac as it seeks to gain a foothold in Formula 1, but such conflicts aren’t exactly unusual in motorsports when a team is competing across multiple championships.

The partnership is already paying dividends, notes WTR driver Ricky Taylor. As Marshall Pruett reported, Taylor will have the opportunity to test an Andretti Autosport Indy car as part of the union as well.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “First of all, the GTP programs, and the level of all the teams, has just gone astronomical. And so to be associated with WTR Andretti, it just takes us to match the field and hopefully a little bit above. But as drivers we’re just observing a very small part part of the puzzle. WTR has a great history of sports, car racing and this event in particular, and to come here, it’s been very much business as usual – adapting to a new car, obviously – with the support of some of Andretti’s technical team. I think as we go along, it’ll probably become much more integrated. But it’s been really cool to see already even if it’s not on the timing stand, support is there.”

At this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, WTR with Andretti Autosport is fielding the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 in the GTP class for Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz and Brendan Hartley. The team is also supporting the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in the GTD class for Ashton Harrison, Kyle Marcelli, Danny Formal and Ryan Briscoe. In addition, Andretti Autosport is running the No. 36 Ligier in LMP3 for Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, Dakota Dickerson and Rasmus Lindh.

You can see the full press conference here

 

Ricky Taylor to get IndyCar test with Andretti

Richard Dole/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | January 23, 2023 7:22 AM ET

One of the best sports car drivers of his generation will get another chance to test an IndyCar as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport IMSA GTP driver Ricky Taylor is set to get another open-wheel run courtesy of his new team co-owner.

Taylor, the 33-year-old from Florida who has two IMSA DPi championship titles – with the most recent coming for Acura Team Penske in 2020 ‒ got his first IndyCar run with Team Penske in what served as an audition that easily landed him the job with ATP as it was being assembled for 2018.

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Wayne Taylor Racing teams up with Andretti Autosport in IMSA

Taylor impressed Penske’s IndyCar operation at the early 2017 run on the Miami-Homestead roval, and while there have been other IndyCar teams that have expressed interest in sampling Taylor’s renowned testing and development skills and running him in a few road course races, those opportunities never materialized.

For Andretti, the new union with the factory Acura WTR team has brought an inside look at Taylor’s capabilities behind the wheel, and if all goes well in testing, it might be hard to argue against placing the hard-charging two-time winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in an extra Andretti Autosport Indy car at a few rounds.

“Let me just say he’s on our radar,” a smiling Andretti told RACER. “Hopefully we’re going to get him in the car soon and see how he does. I know he drove a Penske car a few years back, and I heard it went very, very well from the people that were there at the test that worked with them. So, we can’t wait to get him in the car.”

Taylor’s younger brother Jordan, a three-time IMSA champion, is also on Andretti’s shortlist of talent to acquire. Having joined the factory Corvette Racing team in 2020, Taylor could be a perfect fit for a reunion with his father and brother – the siblings won the 2017 DPi title as co-drivers – as WTR with AA is looking to expand its GTP effort to two cars in 2024.

“To be honest, [it’s] both my kids,” said Wayne Taylor. “When Michael flew down [to discuss the merger], the first thing they said when they came in was, ‘We want both your kids.’ And Jordan and Ricky said to me, ‘We like the idea that Andretti’s name is on it, because then we can deal with Michael and we don’t have to deal with you, dad! We can just deal with Michael.”

 

• m

VIDEO: Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport press conference

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | January 22, 2023 5:11 PM ET Hey. Chick with the hat! Close those legs! You on the right...quit staring at her Cha Cha!

The new union of Wayne Taylor and Michael Andretti comes together for the first time as the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport team holds its first press conference which includes its IMSA GTP and GTD drivers.

 

Herta leads Andretti 1-2 in opening IndyCar Thermal Club session

Courtesy of Andretti Autosport
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | February 2, 2023 3:45 PM ET

With two minutes left in the 2h30m opening test session at the Thermal Club, Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood was all smiles as his No. 27 Honda sat atop the other 26 NTT IndyCar Series drivers. But his new teammate Colton Herta wasn’t going to let the Andretti IndyCar newcomer lead the four-car squad at the onset of Spring Training as his No. 26 Honda was clocked at 1m39.9303s lap, making the Californian the only driver to dip below the 1m40s threshold.

Kirkwood wasn’t far behind, though (+0.0933s), and they were joined by Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud in the No. 60 Honda (+0.1875s) to give the Japanese brand a 1-2-3 in the outing. Fastest from the Chevy camp was Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, whose No. 21 car was more than a quarter-second behind Herta (+0.2610). Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was fifth in the No. 2 Chevy (+0.2759s) and teammate Will Power completed the top six in his No. 12 Chevy (+0.4224s).

More IndyCar!

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Barring a few harmless spins and stalls around the 2.9-mile road course that led to nine minutes of red flags, the session was mostly uninterrupted. Under blue skies and a not-too-warm 70-degree setting, most of the front-running IndyCar teams sat and waited for quite some time before embarking on test runs. Herta was a prime example, completing just 19 laps within the 2h30m timeframe.

UP NEXT: Session 2, 1:30-4:30 p.m. PT, with the last 30 minutes reserved for pit stop practice.

 

Formula 1 BS doesn't say a thing about adding value! What's that about?

Domenicali on F1 expansion: ‘10 teams are more than enough’

NASCAR has 43 teams racing at once and they don't have any value!

LeMans has 63 teams racing at once and they don't have any value either!

Indiannapolis 500 is a bunch of crap too! All Y'all are doing it wrong!

We can charge anything we want to and still get enough fools that think F1 and 10 cars is hot S***

You think you can just come in here and qualify to get into the field to try to win? Screw YOU!

We don't even need to qualify to get into the field! If you just pay an entry fee, that shows your level of intelligence
and some upstart punk is not going to get his chance to race since we only let in 10 teams.

Just because Andretti races different kinds of cars all over the world and has a massive organization, you think
he gets a chance to beat one of our 10 teams? WE are the cool ones! Bite the big one, you Itralian punk!

Hey everybody! I just told off a legendary racer! What do you think about that?

Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images. The largest grandstand in the history of Formula One pees their pants watching
10 whole teams race.
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emailBy Chris Medland | June 14, 2023 10:57 AM ET

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says “10 teams are more than enough” for the sport to be successful and he personally doesn’t want to expand beyond 20 cars on the grid.

The FIA has closed the process for potential new interest to submit an expression of interest to join F1, and is now working through the applicants to see if it recommends any for approval. Both the governing body and Liberty Media as the commercial rights holder will have a say in any expansion, but Domenicali believes the current 10 teams mean the sport is already at the ideal number.

“This is a very interesting question (what is the right number of teams) because there are different positions and there are also legal implications to what we have to say,” Domenicali told F1’s ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast. “I think to be honest, if the real value that it is bringing to the sport is important and is real and stable for the future, there is also another consideration that you have to take. If the contest is growing — which is what we can see today — I think 10 teams are more than enough to create the show or the business and the attention that we want to see on the track.

“There is an evaluation going on today that involves the FIA and us to make the right call for the future. This is something that is also connected to the future discussion that will happen with the renewal of the Concorde Agreement, that we need to remember is expiring in 2025, so we have still a long time to go.

“But it’s an evaluation that we need to take considering in this period of time where in the past there were teams that were coming in, getting out with zero value. Now the teams are stable, very profitable and very strong in terms of also technical capability to be competitive on the track.

“Therefore, the right answer is that in the next months it will be a very important point of discussion that we need to tackle. That is, do we need to stay with 10, do we need to have more teams, or we can give the exemption to a future possible team to be really very, very strong that can join F1? This is all a topic that will be part of the discussion for the future.”

Pushed on whether he himself wants to see more than 20 cars, Domenicali responded: “No. I don’t think so. That’s a personal opinion, I need to say that. Because it’s something that if you have a good show, 20 cars are more than enough.

“If you have two cars or two drivers fighting, the level of attention is mega. So if you have already two teams fighting, that means four cars, it’s just incredible. So can you imagine 20 cars, 10 teams are at the level where there is competition on track? It would be impressive.

“I would say let’s wait and see. My ‘no’ is not against someone who wants to come in — I need to clarify that because otherwise it seems that I want to be protectionist. That is not the case. I want to see the right one and I need to also respect the ones that have invested in Formula 1 in the last period, because we forget too quickly in that respect.

“Now everyone wants to jump in the coach that is very fast. But we need to be prudent, we need to take the right decision, that’s what I’m saying.”
I'm the S.O.B. in charge, and I got my finger on the button! I'm the Bad Dude! I'm the Bad news Bear! I'm gonna be bigger that NASCAR's Bill France!
All of you can kiss my a**!

Domenicali feels building value for the existing F1 teams is central to his stewardship of the sport. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Domenicali says he has helped direct F1 in a better direction from a business point of view as evidenced by the interest in existing teams, suggesting offers to purchase them are closing in on $1 billion — a figure that dwarfs the existing buy-in amount.

“In my role I need to consider that the sport can grow only if the majority of all the teams can grow. That was one of the fundamentals of the budget cap — to give a credible financial stability to the value of the franchise of the team.

“The more you are able to have a competitive field, the more you may have interesting races, the more you can create the interest in the sport and that’s for sure very, very important.

“It is clear that there are situations where the interest in F1 of (some) teams is bigger because they are investing and believe this is the real project on which to develop other things. And therefore it is important that we give sustainable financial stability for each of them to make sure that everyone can do that.

“If you look what has happened in such a short term, talking about the value of a team, there was a time not many years ago — I would say two years ago when the new Concorde Agreement had been signed — when there was talk about, ‘What is the value of a team that has to come in Formula 1?’ There was a number put on the Concorde Agreement that was 200 million (dollars), which seems unreachable, because there were teams in the past that were sold for £1.

“Now the market is offering almost billions to teams and they are refusing that. Can you imagine that?

“So that gives you the perspective of what we are building as an ecosystem. We are building important structure, important dynamics of which the more everyone is growing, the better and the stronger is the business platform which we are all working in.”

 

Why Andretti’s climb to F1 just got steeper.

I ain't rich like you, and don't know how to get sponsorship, but I just told you where to go!

We got 10 teams and we have fooled people into thinking we are hot manure!

Motorsport Images
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emailBy Chris Medland | June 28, 2023 9:34 AM ET

It has been a big week of investments in Formula 1, and while none of them involved Andretti Global, they are likely to have a big impact on Michael Andretti’s hopes of joining the sport.

Let’s rewind back to late 2021. Colton Herta had been in the Sauber simulator and a deal looked on the verge of being completed that would see Andretti take over the Alfa Romeo team. Then there were disagreements over who would retain control amid the investment, and it all fell apart.

A few months later, Mario Andretti made sure the embers of those F1 hopes were not dying out, re-igniting the flames with the revelation that his son was preparing to do it all on his own following the Sauber shunning, and seeking a spot on the grid with a new entry.

At that point, it looked like the rules were clear. $200 million was the buy-in amount — an anti-dilution fee agreed in 2020 between F1 and the teams to compensate for any lost share of revenues that a new team would result in — and there were spaces on the grid available if the FIA opened up a process to allow one to join.

If we rewind even further — to that 2020 Concorde Agreement — the $200m figure was viewed as massive deterrent to any potential new team, and the initial reaction was that it had created a closed shop. Teams insisted it hadn’t, and 18 months later it was already looking like a fair price to an interested party.

The frustration that Michael Andretti (pictured above) had when his plans with Andretti Cadillac were announced earlier this year was that opposition from the majority of the existing 10 teams was “all about money”– and he was right. Whether or not it was also “greed,” as he mentioned at the time, was up for debate then, and has this week been shown to not be correct.

Not that I’m further criticizing Andretti for comments made six months ago with the benefit of hindsight now — you can certainly understand his point. As F1 and the teams started suggesting half a billion dollars or more was going to be a reasonable entry point, it was hard to fully know if they were simply gatekeeping or naming a fair price.

Alpine’s latest investment that values the team at around $900m has shown now that it was the latter. Don’t forget that figure is only for the Enstone-based racing team and does not include the power unit company that operates separately out of France. Buying a whole F1 setup in that sense would cost comfortably more than $1 billion, in valuations that have risen rapidly since the COVID pandemic.

And that’s why the $200m entry fee that is written into the Concorde Agreement is something that won’t be accepted by the teams or F1 at this stage.

That agreement expires at the end of 2025 — and as it covered the period from 2021, it means we’re actually only halfway through its lifespan – but to try and provide a very clear, agreed price for any new team, F1 wants to get a new version of the Concorde agreed as quickly as possible, and one that would kick in with immediate effect and jack up the price accordingly.

But it’s not only the price of an entry that could be going up three-fold in the coming months — the "demands" on that entry continue to get higher, too.

Hitech Global Holdings Ltd — the holding company for Hitech Grand Prix — confirmed on Monday that it is one of the teams that has submitted an application to the FIA to join the grid in 2026. It joins Andretti and Formula Equal as confirmed applicants (though there are believed to be more), and all three have very different approaches.

At this stage, you’d have to say Andretti holds an advantage over the other two with the January announcement of General Motors’ support, even if Wladimir Kim’s investment in Hitech and Craig Pollock saying Formula Equal will be backed by a Gulf state suggests money won’t be an issue for either of them. Is this getting to be "spend anything as long as we win" like Ford vs Ferrari?

But many have long made it clear to GM — through multiple discussions — that its involvement would need to be more than a simple badging exercise to really move the needle.
If you don't kick in a few "extras" (bribes) you ain't gettin in the club, boy!

Ford CEO Jim Farley (at right) has allied the company with the pre-eminent F1 team of the current era, Red Bull Racing, and its engineering legend Adrian Newey. Is that enough in itself to tick the American box for F1?
Not if the ego maniacs running the show have anything to say about it. Sutton/Motorsport Images

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei might have sounded more positive about an 11th team than F1’s Stefano Domenicali in a recent interview on the Walker Webcast, but his comments that Ford could be the American OEM that he feels would be positive for the sport came with the caveat that even the Dearborn-based automotive giant would have to increase its cash input beyond the planned hybrid system support to Red Bull Powertrains.

“Ford is invested in the Red Bull engine process and it’s not inconceivable Ford could get a bigger role,” he said. “There was certainly talk that General Motors were interested around the Andretti bid for an 11th team, and I think there’s reasons to think that could come about.”

Reading between the lines, he suggests GM’s going to need to exceed Ford’s level of involvement with some cold hard under the table cash to catch the commercial rights holder’s eye, and that’s assuming that Andretti Cadillac is put forward as part of the process.

We’re now at the stage where the FIA is combing through the detail of all of the submissions from new teams, with no firm deadline being kept to on when it might recommend any suitable entrant to F1 to consider. During that review phase, questions will be asked of all the interested parties to ensure they reach the required criteria relating to aspects such as technical capabilities, funding, experience and personnel. You know, man. Like we want someone willing to put up the cash and be a winner instead of wimp out on us, but we don't want them to be too good, that they actually DO something!...like win races!

Bringing it all together as one potential new entity is a massive task for anyone. Even if Andretti looks closest to being able to meet them at this point, F1 now has the examples in terms of both firm existing team valuations and recent partnership deals to stand by its high demands. let's see what this baby is gonna make for us money-wise! Let's humble a F1 legend and make him crawl and beg on his knees....as long as he promises to not win any races, let's see how high we can go.

There are teams who want to sell their spot on the grid, and get the heck out of here, instead of put up with our BS, but we want to be sure. Let's see if we can take away all Andretti's money so he doesn't have any left to compete with, and then we can say: "See? We told you he was a loser! He didn't have what it takes! WE were right!

 

Has anyone thought about Andretti starting his own racing organization?

Maybe a sanctioning body where racers don't have to put up with any BS?
And don't have to put up with some butthead ego maniac?

Where you pay an entry fee, and if you qualify into the field, you can race, same as anyone else who qualifies into the field?

Remember years ago when Cart and Indy Car split apart?

Do good ideas replace bad ideas?