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Given the green light from the FIA last year, F1’s commercial rights holder is now assessing the merits of Andretti’s application before deciding whether to accept or reject the entry.
The Michael Andretti-led organisation was one of four that submitted expressions of interest as part of the governing body’s process to admit a new team last season.
Andretti Global, as the operation is now called, was the only candidate to progress to the “next phase” of the process.
That was announced last October, but there has been no public progress on the bid since then.
Nonetheless, Andretti has continued to build his team’s technical capabilities and has gone so far as to run a car in a wind tunnel.
A key figure in the fledgling organisation is Nick Chester, who joined after two decades working for Team Enstone.
The British engineer entered Formula 1 with Simtek in 1994 before a spell at Arrows, where he worked as a performance engineer to Damon Hill in 1997.
He joined Benetton in 2000 and remained there until 2020, replacing James Allison as technical director in mid-2013.
Chester is one of the team’s 120 staff, most of whom are focused on the technical side of the project and have been feverishly working despite the lack of clarity around its future.
“It’s a team that wants to do it properly and wants to win,” Chester said in an interview with The Athletic.
“You don’t want to be anywhere that doesn’t have that ethos.
“As I started talking before I joined, the resource behind it, the effort that was going to go behind it to make it win, just made it very, very attractive.”
Though there is no indication as to whether the squad will ever reach the F1 grid, it has managed to attract staff from most of its prospective rivals.
Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren have all seen team members defect in search of a “new challenge,” leaving Chester to suggest Andretti appeals because it offers the ability to shape the operation from its infancy.
Andretti’s bid comes with the support of General Motors through its Cadillac brand, which has registered as a power unit supplier for the 2026 season.
It’s a significant step up from the apparent branding deal that was first announced.
Now, Andretti and GM are deeply entwined in an out-and-out partnership – a very different proposition for F1 to analyse the potential benefits the entry brings.
“We wouldn’t have got half of what we’ve got done now without GM’s involvement,” Chester said.
“It’s not an arrangement where you throw things backwards and forwards, it’s much more like one team. It’s getting really nicely integrated.”
The association with GM is key in demonstrating how serious it is approaching a potential F1 berth, as is the way it is already working to develop a car.
“If everybody knows you’re just pushing on, then everybody’s focusing on their own areas, trying to generate as much performance as they can,” Chester said.
“That generates a great atmosphere, so that’s the way we’ve gone about it.”
No indication has been given as to when a decision will be made on Andretti’s future as F1 continues to mull over its entry.
As it does so, work remains ongoing in developing all-new regulations for 2026 that will introduce a cost cap for engine development in Formula 1.
Those regulations coincide with when the Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract that binds teams to the sport, is due for renewal.
Many have called for a rinse and repeat with the current arrangement, which has done much to level the playing field by closing the disparity between the front and back of the grid in terms of prize money payments.
Coupled with the financial regulations introduced in 2021, and F1’s new embrace of social media, the sport has grown rapidly and seen team valuations soar towards the billion-dollar mark.
It’s a point not lost on the incumbent operations, many of which argue the exclusivity of the competition is key to its stability and financial security – a convoluted argument for what essentially equates to ‘it’s my money, and I’m not sharing’.
Fundamentally, that is the debate Formula 1 is now having as it assesses Andretti’s future.
Introducing a new team will undoubtedly mean reduced prize money payments as the pot will need to stretch further, a provision already made in the Concorde Agreement.
The question is whether Andretti Global’s addition will add sufficient value to counter any potential negative it may have.
For now, the team pushes on, demonstrating its dedication and commitment to being a competitive F1 operation from its inception.
