Michael Andretti has refuted claims that he wants to join the Formula 1 grid “just to be there”, asserting his effort has serious title ambitions behind it.
Andretti has been in discussions with F1 for several months regarding potentially joining the grid.
Last week, it announced a partnership with General Motors that would see Cadillac join the grid alongside it.
Andretti sees General Motors’ involvement as a clear indication of how serious he is about his F1 bid, having established a competitive racing outfit in the US across the last two decades.
As he looks to join the F1 grid in the coming years, he has outlined that he hopes to be competing for titles in the series “five or six years down the road”.
“We are coming in, in a serious way,” Andretti told Forbes. “It will take a long time to get there, but eventually we want to be one of the top teams in Formula 1.
“Our end goal is to be competing for the World Championship five or six years down the road.
“’We are doing this just to be there’ – who cares about that? We want to be competing and race against the best in the world.
“We aren’t underestimating that. It will be a long, building process, but we have a good plan to eventually get us there.”
Andretti’s entry has faced resistance from many F1 teams, who are concerned about what his entry would do to revenue shares.
However, Andretti has already confirmed that McLaren and Alpine have been supportive of his push.
The 60-year-old, who was once a team-mate of Ayrton Senna at McLaren, says that he is using his opposers as motivation and admits he would take great pleasure in silencing them through success.
“You have to stay focused on your job and not listen to the naysayers,” Andretti said. “I actually use the naysayers as motivation. It’s always fun to shut them up.”
Discussion about this post