More ambitious teams on the grid is always good, and a proper American team (sorry Haas) will lead to more engagement in the US which should help growth. I know the Americanization of the sport is a controversial topic and I too am dreading the Las Vegas GP (though the spectacle will probably be great the track looks dreadful for racing), but I think capturing the American market will be important for the big teams to stay committed to the sport. It would also just be exciting to have more than 20 cars on the grid again.
Now we just need to get rid of Alpha Tauri, though sadly the sale doesn’t seem to be happening.
The thing is how do we know it’s proper if it’s essentially just Haas with more money. They don’t bring any technology
Andretti is an established racing team that has already proven ambitious and successful in other disciplines, and has demonstrated a clear and strong interest in F1 specifically. Gene Haas essentially got talked into starting his team, is by all accounts not that invested and mostly cares about the free advertising for his CNC machines. I’m sure Americans would prefer a team prepared to invest money into the sport instead of one struggling to even approach the budget cap and resorting to cut the pitwall to three people to save resources.
Who on the grid does? Ferrari, Alpine, Honda, and Mercedes build engines, outside of that the rest of the teams are building tightly regulated cars. Andretti is one of the biggest names in American motorsport, they’re attempting to bring in a new engine supplier and one of the biggest car companies in the world, and they have the money to do it. What more can be reasonably asked of them?
No they are not bringing a new engine supplier. That’s the whole point. They bring a new title sponsor. It’s nothing more than Alfa Romeo with sauber.
GM has stated plans to build their own Cadillac-badged F1 engine starting in 2026, provided the bid gets approved.
Luckily, there won’t be any Alpha Tauri cars on the grid from 2024 onward! Although they’ll probably be replaced by an exciting team such as “Red Bull 2” or “Red Bull Jr”…
Or, hear me out, Toro Rosso.
I hope they get it. A bigger paddock could be fun to watch.
I think 11-12 teams on the grid would be perfect. Any more and it starts to get a little crowded in my opinion, especially for some of the smaller circuits.
13 is the max anyway right? The rules only allow for 26 cars per race
Well I’m sure if they thought there was more money to be made they would change the rules.
I’d like to see Andretti get on the grid. Family team with a good history of racing with OEM backing. Not sure what else F1 could possibly be looking for…unless all they want is Saudi oil money.
The rest of the teams don’t want to expand the grid because they believe it’ll make their entries less valuable should any of the owners decide to sell.
Really excited to the F1 grid hopefully growing a bit again with proper entries. Andretti and Hitech are the two candidates I see having the best chance in being there longterm, and maybe being competitive.
Someone mentioned elsewhere that recruitment of F1 engineers has begun - cryptic titles but listed by names of people working for Andretti.
Hitech being the other favorite are using a recruiter to do it
