Andretti reveals it has poached staff from major F1 rivals

Michael Andretti's Formula 1 project has seen it poach staff members away from current squads such as Red Bull and Mercedes.

Andretti successfully passed the first stage of the FIA's assessment last year and it is now in talks with the commercial rights holder.

However, Formula One Management (FOM) has been reluctant to expand the grid and some of the current teams have voiced concern over adding an 11th squad amid fears of diluting the end-of-year revenue shares.

Speaking to The Athletic, Andretti Global's Technical Director Nick Chester admitted surprise over how attracted people were to playing a part of the project.

“I was pleasantly surprised, in a way, how easy it was to draw people to the project,” he said.

“There’s a real draw of a new team, the Andretti name. A blank sheet tends to have a very proactive culture.

“We’ve had people joining from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren. They all wanted a new challenge. It’s that real potential to shape departments, which is very attractive.”

Full steam ahead

Andretti is pushing ahead with its F1 car development despite having no guarantee that it will soon be on the grid.

But one advantage that it currently holds is that it is not restricted the budget cap that the other 10 teams are bound by, and it can invest heavily in production without any worry of breaking the regulations.

As Chester explained, the strongest way to ensure that the project should be taken seriously is to operate as a valid Constructor.

“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.”