Michael Andretti has applied for a Formula 1 team starting with the 2024 championship; His team would build cars in Indianapolis.
In this regard, Michael Andretti has reached a formal deal with Renault for the French manufacturer to provide power units to his team from 2024, as confirmed by former Scuderia Ferrari driver and the American team owner’s father, Mario Andretti.
The 1978 Formula 1 World Champion confirmed his son’s plans to take part in the series starting with 2024 with a new entity, Andretti Global, that has already submitted its entry to the FIA for the governing body to consider.
At the same time, the former Ferrari driver has confirmed that United State outfit’s intentions and plans are so advanced that an engine agreement with Renault has been struck, desoite the fact that for now it is only a conditional preliminary deal and not a signed “formal” contract which would certify the partnership.
“We’re not just new boys in town,” the motorsport legend explained to David Land in an interview published on the latter’s YouTube channel – “We know the prerequisites and also there’s a time factor here. Once we said go ahead, we’ve got to go. So a lot of work has been done. We know where the facility is going to be built in the UK. We know we have people, prominent individuals that have done this type of work as far as start-ups. We have a lot of things in mind. We have formal agreement now on the engine supplier and it’s out there, it’s going to be Renault, I’m allowed to say it now.” – he said.
Yet in a recent discussion with Motorsport.com, Michael Andretti confirmed that Renault was “one of the options” being considered by Andretti Global, with the IndyCar team owner hinting at “another one” which would most likely be Ferrari.
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An engine supply agreement between the prospective American team and the Maranello team would boost Ferrari’s presence in Formula 1 to four teams and eight cars, and in this way increase its potential political influence.
Michael Andretti is also aware that time is crucial regarding its plan of joining the Formula 1 grid in 2024: “We need it fast because the clock’s running for us to be there in 2024. We need to know [from the FIA] within a month.” – he added.
Michael Andretti’s idea has been met with a degree of push-back by some Formula 1 teams who feel that the value of their franchise would be diluted by F1 adding an eleventh entrant.
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