Andretti’s interest in Alfa Romeo helps break the “F1 door” in the US

What happened?

Over the past two weeks, reports have surfaced of growing interest from the Andretti Autosport team. The legendary American team is owned by the son of 1978 F1 World Champion Mario Andretti, Michael, whose business skills have allowed him to expand his racing empire to compete in Australian supercars, Formula E and Indycar. Joint ownership with Zak Brown to create Andretti United Autosport has allowed the team to move into other disciplines such as the World Endurance Championship and Extreme E.

Trying to potentially acquire a controlling stake in Islero Investments (its current owner) would give ownership and operation to the legendary American racing team. An announcement for the US Grand Prix may be made in Austin.

Why should they want to enter?

The coming regulatory changes would benefit the new owners, as they would be given a level playing field without experiencing significant deficits compared to the top group. While the intellectual property, design philosophy and understanding of the car would remain the same as those of the current Alfa Romeo team. Assets such as the headquarters in Hinwil and the wind tunnel would also be available, so that Andretti would not have to dig deep into his pockets to bring in infrastructure updates. could potentially enable synergies between the teams. Connections to McLaren chairman Zak Brown also remain available.

The earlier announcement that the current Mercedes driver Valterri Bottas will be signed also means that critical and up-to-date experience will be provided from a championship team. Bottas inevitably becomes the team leader of the squad, no matter who he works with for 2022. This coupled with a two-year contract means they’ll have a seriously strong driver at the wheel, loaded with new responsibilities and eager to find his rhythm going into the future.

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What could that mean?

This is helping to keep breaking open the “F1 door” to the elusive North American market on which F1 has been so tenaciously focused since 2016. With two American names owned by two American teams, it would bring the nationalist pride and interest of both old and new motorsport enthusiasts. That coupled with the upcoming Miami Grand Prix as well as the sequel to the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ means their control of the American market could soar in the years to come.

For F1 as a sport, it means the return of a golden name in motorsport. Andretti has long become a fabled name in the United States, with success in the many disciplines in which he entered. It also helps add another connection to the American single-seater series Indycar, which has grown massively in popularity in recent years, last year. This could give Andretti’s drivers a chance to make a name for themselves in the US racing series before making the leap to the F1 World Championship.

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