Former Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed he is working with a new US-backed Formula 1 team bid, rivalling the proposed Andretti entry.
Szafnauer was dismissed by Alpine at the end of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix with the American-Romanian’s F1 experience stretching back decades thanks to working with BAR, Honda and Force India (in various guises).
Since his Alpine dismissal, Szafnauer has been without a permanent role within the Formula 1 circus.
With options limited to get back into the fold as Team Principal at an existing team (given he’s likely not on Alpine’s shortlist to succeed Bruno Famin), Szafnauer revealed in the James Allen on F1 podcast that he’s working with US investors on a new team bid.
“I’m a competitor and the one thing that I like more than anything is the competition,” he said.
“So, to come back in a role where I can’t influence how well the team is competing, I don’t think I’d be interested.
“If it was a role where I could help develop, build, attract the right people to improve a team’s competitiveness, I’d be interested.
“But you know, there’s only 10 teams. A lot of them have people in those roles already. So, I don’t know how many opportunities there are out there, but there’s also the 11th and 12th team possibility. So that might be something that would be interesting for me.
“I’ve been working with some organisations in North America that have the funding to start an 11th team. It’s not Andretti. Now we’re just putting some of those building blocks in place to make sure that we have everything that’s required in order to be successful to both start a team, but also get an entry. So, you know, that’s interesting too.”
If Andretti’s bid to join the F1 grid proves anything, it is how hard a task getting into the series is for any new entry.
The American outfit, backed by General Motors, entered the FIA’s tender process early last year for prospective Formula 1 teams, despite Formula One Management (FOM) and the existing 10 entries opposing the notion.
Andretti was the only successful outfit in the FIA’s tender process but failed to reach commercial terms with FOM and Liberty Media.
The only promise Andretti has is the potential of a General Motors power unit, which is slated to be ready in time for the 2028 season, at which point FOM would reevaluate the team’s proposed entry.
Still, work has continued at Andretti to join the grid in 2026, with a facility opened at Silverstone, several hundred staff recruited and technical work ongoing, despite not being given the green light by FOM.
Should Szafnauer and his collaborators be serious about joining F1, the difficulty Andretti has faced should serve as a stark warning.
The road to F1 is littered with hurdles that nobody yet knows can be overcome.
With the corpulent bluffer Szafnauer in the opposition ranks, Andretti can rest easy that their position as the prime candidate to join the Formula One grid is under no threat.