Michael Andretti to takeover existing F1 team?? Reports . . .

The Haas NASCAR team has a wind tunnel, but yeah, the F1 team doesn't use it as far as I know.

 

I believe they use the Ferrari one.

I was only mentioning that as a wind tunnel is a valuable asset in case of sale.

 

So if he becomes team owner of a European team, will he continue to live in the US and just fly back and forth?

That worked well the last time...

 

May I suggest that Michael's present wife could be more willing to relocate in the old world ?

 

LOL! Really. He need only attend Monaco. He will have his team manager on the Pit Wall. Technology. He easily interact with the team virtually. 2021.

 

There is that.

Brings up a question in me: what miserable F1 driver has ever become a successful team owner? serious question, not just sarcastic

We have seen plenty of the opposite: brilliant F1 driver become a miserable team owner (Fittipaldi, Prost)

 

Playboy's Playmate of the Year 2000

Jack Brabam is the exception. Where to rank Dan Gurney , John Surtees and Graham Hill?

 

Hummm, I thought we were talking about "miserable" F1 drivers.

 

Brabham certainly scores as great driver and owner.

Bruce McLaren comes to mind, but IIRC (on thin ice here) didn't well in F1.

Gurney, yeah, hmm. Not that great as a driver or team owner, but managed a victory as owner/driver. But not what I'd call a great success story.

Surtees? Great driver, miserable team owner.

Stewart, great driver and good team, no?

Graham Hill? Was he ever an owner? Beats me.

 

Graham ran the Embassy Hill team using Shadow and Lola.

 

Thanks. That sounds substantial.

As I said, that all predates me following F1 so my memory is very flimsy at best.

 

Don't know if this has been mentioned.....Michael Andretti and 2 others wanted a SPAC deal earlier this year....needed 250,000,000US. No targeted companies at the time. It doesn't seem they got the $$$(can't tell, didn't search for very long), but you'd think the F1 interest and the SPAC are related.

 

Why am I suddenly thinking of toasters?

 

I'd say Dan Gurney was a success story, not a world champion or dominant driver, but he won races in so many areas (F1, NASCAR, LeMans, Sports Cars) I'm a fan.

 

Andretti raising $250 million in capital and eyeing F1 move. A more recent story:

https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/09/17/andretti-eyeing-formula-1-move/?fbclid=IwAR2xWhzZI02z-p-Ht3kcHrJOSqYeoBTWUhgqQa8tElJRK7qjzJH7Xx6xn40

 

The issue is which team - HAAS is the best candidate. Will HAAS want to sell and to Andretti? Does he want to sell.

I dont see ALFA in this. If its going to be sold Id see a European or Chinese purchase than Andretti, yet there is no hint at all about Alfa being up for sale at all.

Williams is more stable. Sounds like he is 'fishing' but how serious is this in reality. There is not real meat here just rumor abound. Gets clicks and not much else.

 

Great! He only needs 10 times that.

I don't think you can support a team only on borrowed money.

 

Which adds nothing just refers to a piece from last month so more clickbait

 

Yep. Already need 200 million to enter an F1 team now and after spending that, you still have ZERO. Need staff, workshops, engines and so on. Can't do that for 50.

Haas did their best entering F1 on what was considered a shoestring budget by cleverly buying lots of parts that where allowed to be shared. Haas spend 120 million in their first year...and they saved cost by already owning a wind tunnel, already owning a 125K sqft facility and so on.

To try and do it on 50 is sheer lunacy. Haas knows their team entry and assets is worth way more than 250. So Andretti is not out to buy a team either...

 

Harumph. That's odd.

The great Jim Clark's father told Dan Jim confided to him that Dan was the only driver he "feared".......

Yup, I guess multiple wins in F1, the WSC, IMSA (championships too), USAC Indy Car (also championships) and CART, the Can Am, the Trans Am, NASCAR.....and others.....as driver and team owner/engineer/car builder really does illustrate how "not that great" Dan was......

 

Indeed, shame he never made President
Would have got my vote.
Well if I wasn’t a one year old Brit who didn’t subscribe to R&T

 

Gurney was successful for years in many forms of racing.

 

On a tad more serious note (with less than a tad of importance...) Dan and I were born in the same town (he 23 years before me), and I got to talk to him briefly at Sebring, '75 iirc.

 

Bernie!

 

Car and Driver