Andretti F1 - 2025

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

While over in IndyCar, the popular rumour is Andretti Global is switching from
Honda to Chevy sooner rather than later…. And have lost their technical support contract with Meyer Shank, who are a devout Honda team because they seem to believe a brand switch is pending. And Andretti rumoured to be reducing to 3 cars (from 5) it’s not pointing exactly how you might think it could

Meyer Shank have gone over to Ganassi.


https://racer.com/2024/08/19/meyer-s...ti-to-ganassi/

[veeten]

Kinda like Gene Haas selling off and closing down much of his NASCAR operation, but none of the returns seem to have been diverted to the F1 operations. Of course, that hasn't stopped most F1 mavens and "cheerleaders" from pontificating otherwise...

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by veeten

Kinda like Gene Haas selling off and closing down much of his NASCAR operation, but none of the returns seem to have been diverted to the F1 operations. Of course, that hasn't stopped most F1 mavens and "cheerleaders" from pontificating otherwise...

Completely different in almost every way. Andretti is moving to Chevy engines in Indycar (logical, given the relationship that has developed out of the F1 entry bid) and Meyer Shank (which is committed to Honda) has therefore ended the relationship with Andretti and hooked up with Ganassi. All makes sense.

The Stewart-Haas selloff isn't a change of engines or manufacturer, it is a case of getting out of NASCAR completely and dissolving the partnership, selling the franchises. Personally I think that Tony Stewart has other priorities in his life now and the same can probably be said for Gene Haas.

Haas is in fact now investing more into his F1 operation but who knows if any NASCAR sale proceeds are contributing to that - but there does seem to be a higher focus on F1 and I suspect that selling off the NASCAR operation would probably assist with that.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Completely different in almost every way. Andretti is moving to Chevy engines in Indycar (logical, given the relationship that has developed out of the F1 entry bid) and Meyer Shank (which is committed to Honda) has therefore ended the relationship with Andretti and hooked up with Ganassi. All makes sense.

The Stewart-Haas selloff isn't a change of engines or manufacturer, it is a case of getting out of NASCAR completely and dissolving the partnership, selling the franchises. Personally I think that Tony Stewart has other priorities in his life now and the same can probably be said for Gene Haas.

Haas is in fact now investing more into his F1 operation but who knows if any NASCAR sale proceeds are contributing to that - but there does seem to be a higher focus on F1 and I suspect that selling off the NASCAR operation would probably assist with that.

It was to be a total sell off but Haas has decided to keep one Cup car franchise and will run a two car Xfinity series team as well. So keeping a finger in the NASCAR pie but the partnership with Tony Stewart is dissolved and most of the NASCAR Cup operation is sold off.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

It was to be a total sell off but Haas has decided to keep one Cup car franchise and will run a two car Xfinity series team as well. So keeping a finger in the NASCAR pie but the partnership with Tony Stewart is dissolved and most of the NASCAR Cup operation is sold off.

Thanks mate, yeah, I'd read that but couldn't find a reference to it when I wrote that post. Cheers

[S griffin]

So any idea what's gonna happen with those whole congress investigation into F1's treatment of Andretti? Not sure how far it will get

[GTRMagic]

Now this is packaged as ‘rumour’ but…

Andretti OUT at Andretti Global?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Now this is packaged as ‘rumour’ but…

It seems like a number of news organizations are reporting it. It also doesn't sound like a forced exit. It sounds more like he is stepping away from day to day operational leadership. It makes you wonder what he is looking to spend his time on? Which leads to...

https://www.planetf1.com/features/za...oard-explained

So they recently created a shell company designed to act as vehicle for acquiring something else. With Michael, Mario and others including Zak Brown being part of it. I guess this means "watch this space". We can speculate they are going to buy a racing team? Haas maybe? Or maybe it's completely unrelated to F1?

Richard

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Richard C

It seems like a number of news organizations are reporting it. It also doesn't sound like a forced exit, change or ownership or anything like that. It sounds more like he is stepping away from day to day operational leadership. It makes you wonder what he is looking to spend his time on? Which leads to...

https://www.planetf1.com/features/za...oard-explained

So they recently created a shell company designed to act as vehicle for acquiring something else. With Michael, Mario and others including Zak Brown being part of it. I guess this means "watch this space". We can speculate they are going to buy a racing team? Haas maybe? Or maybe it's completely unrelated to F1?

Richard

It’s at ESPN now so likely closer to the truth and not.

Someone might suspect the target is a stake in the Spire NASCAR operation as Gainbridge is already a title sponsor over there…

[E.B]

This adds a bit of spice.... https://twitter.com/jeppe_olesen/sta...07891873317040

Part of that says. "....extra tidbit on Michael Andretti exiting his stake of Andretti Global:
On September 5th, Zak Brown was appointed to the Board of Directors of "Andretti Acquisition Corp. II".....

More in the twitter link in terms of corporate info

Hmmm

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by E.B

This adds a bit of spice.... https://twitter.com/jeppe_olesen/sta...07891873317040

Part of that says. "....extra tidbit on Michael Andretti exiting his stake of Andretti Global:
On September 5th, Zak Brown was appointed to the Board of Directors of "Andretti Acquisition Corp. II".....

More in the twitter link in terms of corporate info

Hmmm

Similar info as to the article I posted above. The article I posted had some good details.

One item of interest is that many headlines on this call out Andretti giving up "ownership". But in what I have read in some of the articles is that Andretti gave up controlling ownership in 2022. Maybe he has also sold off any remaining ownership (probably not).

Richard

[Mike Harte]

Here is Autosport's article about Andretti stepping back from the operational side of the team: https://www.autosport.com/indycar/ne...team/10658589/

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Richard C

Similar info as to the article I posted above. The article I posted had some good details.

One item of interest is that many headlines on this call out Andretti giving up "ownership". But in what I have read in some of the articles is that Andretti gave up controlling ownership in 2022. Maybe he has also sold off any remaining ownership (probably not).

Richard

Apologies Richard.... I found the tweet elsewhere and posted the info here before I read some of the detail already added. I got a bit too keen.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by E.B

Apologies Richard.... I found the tweet elsewhere and posted the info here before I read some of the detail already added. I got a bit too keen.

No apologies needed. Just want to make sure you saw the article as well.


Richard

[Tourer]

Wonder if this could lead to a whole rethink and change to the whole F1 entry idea (assuming that the new management still wants to go ahead with it). With what you'd expect to be a far more business-based approach and with the emotive statements etc. wound right down, then the whole concept might have more legs and stack up better from FOM's point of view.

Might even be that the name of the proposed F1 team changes to something as simple as "Cadillac"?

Don't know Dan Towriss, don't know what he's like but we've seen Michael's emotive approach and loud demands / claims, & maybe there's been a discussion (or several discussions) along the lines of "get rid of the clown & we might be able to talk business". With Towriss (as I understand it) controlling all or most of the funding, it might very well be that the only true way forward is considered to be a more measured and less emotive management approach. PS; I known that "clown" is harsh but couldn't think of a better way to explain what I meant.

[Formulahistory]

That's very sad.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Here is Autosport's article about Andretti stepping back from the operational side of the team: https://www.autosport.com/indycar/ne...team/10658589/

This Racer article also mentions Dan Towriss, owner of Gainbridge and holding company Group 1001, taking control of the business.

https://racer.com/2024/09/27/michael...wnership-role/

Also posted on Indycar News & Rumors.

[S griffin]

Hopefully this isn’t a sad end to the team and the legacy can continue for some time yet

[Tourer]

Michael Andretti says "it isn't goodbye". Easy to be cynical about the whole "want to spend more time with the family" approach, when it's been used so often when sports coaches or politicians get the boot, but could be true this time. I guess we'll find out at some stage what it all means for Andretti Global and any F1 ambitions still held (or not).

[Tourer]

Meanwhile, the staff hired for the F1 project keep chipping away:

2026 chassis for crash testing and data work should be completed before the end of this year.

Andretti's UK F1 operation still rolling on, hiring new people every week.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Meanwhile, the staff hired for the F1 project keep chipping away:

2026 chassis for crash testing and data work should be completed before the end of this year.

Andretti's UK F1 operation still rolling on, hiring new people every week.

Makes one wonder whether the crew at AndrettiSilverstone could be redeployed to design a replacement for the now well aged DW12 IndyCar chassis when the tender next arrives…

[Tourer]

Marshall Pruett's latest podcast talks about rumours he's hearing about Andretti's F1 bid - he starts talking about it from 3:20 onwards.

All still very vague, with any announcement maybe happening late this year or early next but perhaps all the rumours and actual happenings might be lining up?

Remains to be seen but there might still be an 11th team before we get too much older (or not).

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Marshall Pruett's latest podcast talks about rumours he's hearing about Andretti's F1 bid - he starts talking about it from 3:20 onwards.

All still very vague, with any announcement maybe happening late this year or early next but perhaps all the rumours and actual happenings might be lining up?

Remains to be seen but there might still be an 11th team before we get too much older (or not).

It was extremely vague. It would be easy to spin theories, but I prefer to wait until there is something more real. I guess the only reason to listen to him is under the assumption that his "inside" contacts are more real than... I heard it from a guy down at the Kabob shop...

Richard

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Richard C

It was extremely vague. It would be easy to spin theories, but I prefer to wait until there is something more real. I guess the only reason to listen to him is under the assumption that his "inside" contacts are more real than... I heard it from a guy down at the Kabob shop.

Yep, agree - could be nothing more than someone having some fun & rolling rumours around at this point. Here in Australia, we call them Kebabs & my local guy has "inside info" on everything (allegedly) - I might have missed a trick here, maybe I should have a chat to him.

[Sandgroper]

Investigation Heats up

https://speedcafe.com/andretti-inves...1-team-bosses/