"We've been around much longer" - Andretti Global finds objections from F1 teams about possible entry 'very offensive'

Former F1 world champion Mario Andretti has been offended by some F1 teams opposing the possible entry of the Andretti Motorsports team into the series.

Mario's son Michael Andretti has long harbored the intention of racing in F1 and has been pushing to join the sport as a new constructor for some time now. Earlier in the year, the 1978 world champion confirmed that Andretti Global had applied with the FIA and was awaiting their decision.

Their bid has received mixed responses, with some teams welcoming the American outfit and others remaining skeptical about the value addition they could bring to F1. Primary among the latter has been Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

In an interview with MotorLAT, the 82-year-old hit out at the Austrian for a double standard with talks of Audi looking to buy an F1 team and join the sport. Andretti said:

“We hear resistance with ‘okay, manufacturers [are] coming in’ – manufacturers are always welcome, no question. Why wouldn’t they be? Toto mentions Audi and [he says] we’d rather have Audi as the eleventh team. In my opinion, Audi would be welcome anywhere, no question. But I don’t see Audi being a start-up team. I see Audi actually merging with a top team as an engine supplier. I’ll tell you why. You can better justify the investment because as an engine supplier with any team – you win races, the engine wins – when you don’t win races, it’s the team’s fault. It’s always like that and that’s the way it is. It’s fine.”

The American went on to add:

“We’re one of the teams that would be open for another manufacturer. We’re working already with the present manufacturers to make some decisions; that’s the way it works. You absolutely welcome manufacturers but the manufacturers come and go. We don’t come and go – we come and stay. Manufacturers don’t depend on the sport – we do. It’s our life. That’s all we do. We breathe this. Why deprive us from it? We’re serious about it.”

Andretti has taken umbrage with those questioning the credibility of his team's intentions, saying:

“I just don’t understand some of the objections that we’re hearing from the other teams. You hear some of the comments like that we’re not credible and all that sort of thing – that hurts. It’s very offensive – we’ve been around much longer than the people that have been talking to us.”

---

Mario Andretti claims he has the support of some F1 teams but wants specific reasons for objections from the rest

Mario Andretti is not willing to let sleeping dogs lie and wants those F1 teams opposing his team's entry to give clear reasons for doing so.

Red Bull, Williams, McLaren, and Alpine are in favor of Andretti joining the F1 grid. Alpine could also end up sharing the same Power Unit (PU) with the Americans should a deal materialize.

When asked if he had the backing of teams on the grid during the aforementioned interview, Andretti said:

“I think so for sure. We have some. Some of the ones that don’t want us, I don’t know why. Give us specific reasons and maybe we’ll see if we can fix it. Tell us exactly where the objection is and maybe we can shed some light on something like that.”

F1's popularity has grown exponentially since Liberty Media Group's takeover of the sport. With their heavy presence on social media and the Netflix docu-drama series 'Drive To Survive', the sport has managed to reel in scores of new fans in the USA.

The 2022 calendar has two races in the country with a third to be added next year. There is, however, still only one American team in Haas on the grid and no American drivers. Andretti and Co. are very keen to change that.