Helmut Marko believes Alpine should be sold to Andretti to as the American outfit look to join the Formula 1 grid. Andretti, with General Motors backing, lodged one of a number application to join the F1 grid under the FIA's Expression of Interest process at the start of the year, with a final decision expected to be taken in the coming weeks. The reception to Andretti's bid, and that of the other entries, has been lukewarm by current teams, but RacingNews365 understands that Alpine was one of two teams who supported Andretti's joining the grid, the other being McLaren when Michael Andretti canvassed team bosses at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. But Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Marko has a simple solution in mind whereby Renault would sell Alpine to Andretti.
Marko's solution
"Andretti should buy Alpine," Marko told Sport1. "That would be best for everyone. Formula 1 would keep its 10 teams, Andretti could finally get in and Renault would still be involved." Marko also touched on recent discussions at the F1 Commission meeting about the understood lack of performance in the Renault power unit - which Alpine is the only team to use. To restore parity, a number of solutions have been spoken about, but Mercedes and Ferrari are vehemetly against Balance of Performance (BoP) being introduced, something Marko agrees with. "I can understand Alpine's problems. It is not just about engine performance," he said. "If you are too far behind in performance, you will have to make compromises with the car set-up to compensate for a lack of speed on the straights - which can amount to a loss of time of up to three-tenths of a second. "That comes at the expense of the driving characteristics of the car. "We were not against it with Renault - but it must be clearly demonstrated that the performance gap is significant. "It must be ensured that measures are taken that do not weaken the rest of us, the decision has therefore been put on hold [while further talks take place.]"
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