Michael Andretti is eagerly waiting to learn the status of his application for Andretti Global to become a car owner and constructor in the Formula 1 World Championship.
Despite an impeccable résumé as a car owner that includes six Indy 500 victories, FIA officials and Formula 1 team owners have not exactly rolled out the red carpet for the 60-year-old former driver and his Cadillac-backed Formula 1 operation.
Yet, the son of 1978 Formula 1 champion Mario Andretti remains hopeful his bid will get the green light.
“We are still waiting on the FIA to put out the report that we have passed all of the tests we have needed to pass,” Andretti told SPEED SPORT in late August. “We hope to hear from the FIA soon.
“They keep moving the time frame. Europe shuts down in August and that cost us a month there. Hopefully, we’ll get some good news soon.”
Andretti’s dream of bringing a United States-based team to Formula 1 with an American driver has endured a tremendous amount of scrutiny, including opposition from Austrian billionaire Toto Wolff, the CEO and team principal of Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas F1.
Wolff has flat-out rejected Andretti’s efforts during this lengthy process.
Andretti, however, continues to move forward.
“It’s a big effort,” Andretti said. “It’s about getting all of the people we need. We are hiring as we speak, but there are a lot of people on the sidelines that are really interested in coming if we get the entry. The sooner the better for us to get this thing built.
“We have a lot of momentum, a lot of good things happening, a lot of really good people that are interested. Hopefully, we can get an approval soon and go flat-out building it.
“We understand the effort. We aren’t going in blind,” Andretti stressed. “We have a lot of people that have done this many times before who are with us. It’s a big undertaking, no question about it, but we understand the challenges.”
One challenge Andretti has conquered is raising the capital required to start a Formula 1 team from scratch. Two years ago, Andretti’s group was willing to invest $600 million to purchase the Sauber F1 team. Sauber wanted the money but wanted to continue to make the key decisions for the team.
That was a deal breaker to Andretti, who believes the majority shareholder makes the calls, the foundation of any business structure.
Andretti’s partner is Dan Towriss, the CEO of Group1001 and Gainbridge. The 50-year-old Towriss is from Muncie, Ind., and was a pitcher on the Indiana University baseball team.
With Towriss and his tremendous financial backing, Andretti Autosport rebranded itself as Andretti Global on Sept. 5. The rebranding emphasizes how the Indianapolis-based team is moving into international motorsports.
Andretti and Towriss are working to add Formula 1 to the team’s already impressive motorsports portfolio that features its multi-car NTT IndyCar Series operation as the current centerpiece of the company.
“(When) Michael (Andretti) was looking to get into Formula 1 — they were working on a deal with Alfa Romeo — we were looking to become a small part of that (as an investor), like 10 or 20 percent,” Towriss explained. “As things progressed, some of the investor syndicate that was going to lead the deal turned out to be not as solid as advertised.
“One day, I called up Michael and said that some of the deadlines weren’t being met and we’d like to take the whole thing — we’d become the sole investor if you want us to be, along with you. We negotiated that deal (with Alfa Romeo), Michael and I did. We had terms and a term sheet, and at the very end there was a discrepancy on voting rights.