Andretti pursues Formula 1 team takeover

The US could have another team in Formula 1 if a former driver’s efforts prove successful.

RACER has learned that the owner of the Andretti Autosport team, Michael Andretti, is actively looking for an F1 team to acquire.

It is known that the conversation with Haas did not go beyond a basic range, which resulted in Andretti looking for another target in the F1 paddock. Following Haas F1, the two investment firm-owned teams – Alfa Romeo Sauber, which was sold to Longbow Finance SA in 2016, and Williams Grand Prix Engineering, which was bought by Dorilton Capital in 2020 – are considered the best options available to the champions of the CART IndyCar Series from 1991.

“It would be great, but there is a long way to go if it should happen,” Andretti told RACER. “If the opportunity arises, we will do anything. But we’re not there yet. “

Haas has the obvious American connection but has a close partnership with Ferrari while Williams is a Mercedes customer – something it shares with Zak Brown’s McLaren. Brown and Andretti are partners in other racing categories and have teamed up in Supercars, Australian GT and Extreme E. Regardless of the McLaren CEO, Andretti is starting a four-car IndyCar program, a two-car project in Formula E, a four-car Indy Lights team, and has an LMP3 entry in IMSA’s WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

Alfa Romeo recently renewed its title sponsorship in an “annual ratings” contract, but the F1 team is still run by Sauber Motorsport, based on a less close partnership with Ferrari than Haas. The location of the Switzerland-based team makes any business even more complex, but it has an impressive wind tunnel and a romantic connection from Andretti’s point of view, as his father Mario also drove for Alfa Romeo in Formula 1 in 1981 as two separate stints with Ferrari.

Buying an existing F1 team – or at least a stake in one – has been a far more economical approach since the signing of the latest Concorde deal in 2020, which introduced a buy-in fee of $ 200 million for each new addition . This fee would be shared among the existing teams who would lose a percentage of their revenue as a result, but it had the effect of adding value to the 10 teams currently on the grid.

In March, a filing of the new Andretti Acquisitions Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission was announced. In the document, AAC stated its goal of going public in order to raise $ 250 million on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WNNR (winner).