Mario Andretti expecting FIA's answer on 11th F1 team bid 'within a couple of months'

Mario Andretti, the 1978 Formula One world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, expects to know the status of his son Michael’s efforts to join F1 "within a few months".

Andretti Autosport strengthened their bid to enter Formula 1 by announcing a partnership with General Motors through the Cadillac brand on January 5. Michael, a former McLaren F1 driver, believes that this will clear all hurdles in his quest to establish a new team in F1.

He told reporters in a video conference:

“One of the big things was 'what does Andretti bring to the party?’ Well, we're bringing one of the biggest manufacturers in the world now with General Motors and Cadillac. We feel that that was the one box we didn't have checked that we do have checked now.”

After beginning predatory work on Andretti Autosport's new state-of-the-art factory in Indiana that is expected to house all of the organization's global racing operations, including a potential F1 team, Mario stated that he is expecting to hear from the FIA in the coming months.

He told Autosprint (as quoted by PlanetF1):

“The truth is that we are structuring the team day by day, as if the green light is already there. A programme like this is very complex, so we have to keep moving forward, even if not at top speed, but to put key names under contract we need certainties, so from that point of view we are still on hold. Let’s say we could reasonably have an answer within a couple of months.”

---

Michael Andretti hits out at F1 teams for ignoring sport's growth, explains FIA president's role in General Motors partnership

Michael Andretti has been left unimpressed with the pushback he has encountered in his bid to establish a new team in F1. Despite announcing a partnership with General Motors to strengthen their cause, it was widely reported that the majority of the teams were against any expansion as it would lead to a dilution of revenues.

Andretti has hit out at the teams' greed and blamed them for not trying to grow the sport. He said:

“It’s all about money. First, they think they are going to get diluted one-tenth of their prize money, but they also get very greedy thinking we will take all the American sponsors as well. It’s all about greed and looking at themselves and not looking at what is best for the overall growth of the series.”

Speaking about the partnership with General Motors, he stated that they pursued that route after conversations with Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA.

He said:

“He [Mohammed Ben Sulayem] was the one who advised us to look for a partnership with a big manufacturer to give more strength and depth to our project,” Andretti said of the FIA president. That’s where the partnership with Cadillac came from, which means a community of intent with General Motors.”