Back in February, it seemed like the struggle between Andretti and Formula 1 had come to a full stop. But now, it appears that Andretti isn’t done fighting just yet. The American team has now come out of the gates making big swings in an attempt to show F1 just what they’re missing out on.
Quick recap for everyone who is a little fuzzy on this whole story. After trying to get on the F1 grid for several years - including an attempt to buy out Sauber - Andretti Global finally got formal approval by the FIA last summer to join Formula 1 in 2026. However, Formula One Management (FOM) still needed to approve the team as well. Last February, the FOM came with the final verdict: Andretti is not joining in 2026. The reasoning was pretty petty, and everyone who has been following this story knows that in reality it was just about the money.
Andretti bought some prime real estate in Silverstone
Even though the FOM suggested that Andretti could maybe join in 2028, it largely seemed like that was the end of the story. But now Andretti has come back into the limelight with a big and blatant push for F1 yet again. And they’re not doing it alone: Andretti still has the FIA in their corner. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is still batting for Andretti to join as well. RACER reports now that the FIA is helping Andretti prepare for their next attempt to join F1.
The latest move by Andretti is to open a brand new base in Silverstone (see picture at the top of the article). This goal of this base, as Michael Andretti put it? “We want to make this our hub for the European racing. This is going to be mainly for F1, but we also want to bring in our Formula E team and start integrating it here.”
The Americans are already doing better than most current teams
That “European Racing” doesn’t stop at Formula 1, Andretti explained to Autosport. “Our goal is to have an F3/F2 team to help support the F1 team, and then maybe even a WEC team. So a lot of cool plans in this area.”
Given that Andretti already takes part in Formula E, IndyCar, Extreme E and Supercars, it means that the team will basically be in every single major racing series in the world. Except for Formula 1. But they’re more than ready to go for that one too.
Andretti already had a concept car ready to go before FOM gave them the cold shoulder. They even tested that one in the wind tunnel of Toyota in Germany. Reports are that Andretti is now continuing the development of that car in line with the specifications of the 2026 regulations. That’s actually not allowed for the teams currently on the grid, but hey, since Andretti isn’t allowed to call themselves an F1 team yet, they don’t have to abide by that rule. Alongside it, they have a crew of 1100 to 1200 people working on the F1 program, including several high profile hires from teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. That would mean that Andretti has roughly as many people working on their F1 program as Mercedes does. It’s more than double what Sauber has and more than three times as much as Haas.
The F1 concept car that Andretti is developing in the Toyota windtunnel. (Image credit: The Athletic)
F1 is running out of excuses
What we’ve essentially got here is a show of force from Andretti. They have a car. They have a team. They now have a base in Europe, and they will soon have a team in junior formula because F1 doesn’t have anything to say about that, that’s all up to the FIA. It is becoming increasingly difficult for F1 to claim Andretti isn’t ready for F1, especially now that we’re seeing how poorly Sauber and Alpine are doing. The fact that the announcement is happening on the same day as Prema announcing they’re joining IndyCar is probably not a coincidence either: it’s meant to show that teams can enter new racing series just fine.
If F1 is indeed serious about Andretti joining in 2028, then the American team will be more than ready to go. But from the outside looking in, I see absolutely no reason why Andretti would have to wait that long. You’d almost think there’s a different reason F1 isn’t letting the American team in. But I can’t quite figure out what that reason could po$$ibly be…