Entry planned for the 2025 season
New Formula 1 team comes to Germany
October 21, 2023, 11:06 a.m
The first driver candidates are already being discussed, but Michael Andretti still has to convince the ten current Formula 1 teams to accept his racing team. For him, the matter has long been clear – which is why the team is now traveling to Cologne.
Ex-racing driver Michael Andretti wants to further push his US project’s entry into Formula 1 with a wind tunnel test in Cologne. “Our car will be in a wind tunnel next week. At the moment we are still planning for a start from 2025,” Andretti told the British broadcaster Sky Sports on the sidelines of the Formula 1 guest appearance in Austin. According to a report from the specialist portal “motorsport.com”, the racing team has built a racing car according to the regulations in force for this year and wants to use it to collect data in the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne.
The world association FIA has already given the green light to Andretti’s application for a starting place in Formula 1. Now it is the turn of the management of the racing series and rights holder Liberty Media. There is strong resistance from the ten established teams to the FIA’s plans to expand the starting field. “It’s a mystery to me why they’re opposing it,” Andretti said.
He firmly believes that his new team with partner General Motors and its Cadillac brand will deliver added value to Formula 1 and its fans. “They say we’re shrinking the pie for everyone, but hopefully we’re bringing more than we’re taking,” Andretti explained. His racing team has the right to a place on the starting grid.
The construction of the new team is in full swing. Andretti is hoping for approval for 2025, probably because the current basic contract will still apply then. This stipulates that every new addition has to pay an admission fee of around 189 million euros, which is distributed among the existing teams. For the follow-up agreement, the racing teams are pushing for this payment to be increased significantly. That could jeopardize Andretti’s plans.
As one of the two drivers, the 61-year-old wants to sign the American Colton Herta, who has long been considered an F1 candidate and completed test drives for McLaren in 2022. However, the 23-year-old currently still lacks the super license required for Formula 1. “The goal is to have at least one American in the car and an experienced pilot who can advise him,” Andretti said.