Mario Andretti insists that his son Michael is "not giving up" on securing an F1 team entry in the future, after Andretti Autosport's failed attempt to buy a majority stake in the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo F1 operation. The potential takeover towards the end of last year was all but confirmed, with Andretti looking to acquire an 80 percent share of Islero Investments, the current owner of Sauber, which operate the Alfa Romeo F1 team. However, the deal was scrapped before October's United States Grand Prix, and it emerged from the Andretti camp that issues regarding the control of the team ended negotiations, as opposed to financial reasons.
Andretti "not giving up" on F1 entry
Although the Alfa Romeo bid ultimately fell through, F1 remains high on Andretti's wishlist, according to his 1978 World Champion father. "All I can say about that is Michael is not giving that up," Mario Andretti told RacingNews365.com in an exclusive interview, when asked to reflect on the situation, and whether the interest is still there. "He has his eyesight on entering the Formula 1 world and he has some good people behind him. Stay tuned! It's not over yet." Pushed on the matter, and whether it's simply a case of waiting for another opportunity to arise, Andretti repeated: "It's not over..."
Andretti excited for F1's new era
While the wait goes on to see whether the family name will return to F1 as a team, Andretti senior is looking forward to watching the sport head into a new era in 2022, which marks the arrival of all-new technical regulations. "There's so much to look forward to, to see just how the new technical rules are going to play out," added the 12-time Grand Prix winner. "We'll see whether the field is going to be more level; because of these new rules, everyone is starting pretty much from scratch." As for which teams might be able to make a step forward, he added: "I think the eyeballs are on Ferrari and McLaren at the moment. I would suspect that's who everyone would expect to challenge Red Bull and Mercedes. "Everything is out there. That's what creates the anxiety and the anticipation about the coming season. [With] new rules, I think that's always a bit of a shake-up, which is good. You're looking forward to unpredictability. "But at the end of the day, I think the usual suspects will still be up front."
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