30/11/2021
NEWS STORY
Despite the failure of his bid to buy Sauber, Michael Andretti hasn't given up on entering F1, admitting that "there's still interest" in "the ultimate racing experience".
According to the American, he was "48 hours" away from a deal until disagreement over money and control issues saw discussions hit the rocks.
However, speaking to the Racer/Epartrade Online Race Industry Week, Andretti, who runs teams in IndyCar, Indy Lights, Formula E, Extreme E and Supercars in Australia, admitted that he hasn't given up on F1.
"It's the biggest racing series in the world and I think it could do wonders for our brand," he said. "Internationally, obviously, we are with Formula E and Extreme E, to do Formula 1 is the ultimate. I've always had interest in that.
"It was really, really disappointing that that deal didn't come together," he said of the Sauber bid. "We were literally 48 hours away from getting the deal done at that time as we thought.
"I still very much would like to do it," he insisted, "but opportunities are becoming less and less, teams aren't really for sale right now. We have to see what happens in the future.
"There's still interest," he added. "I love F1, it's the ultimate racing experience, and for our brand would be just huge, it just takes us to the highest level you can be in.
"There's always a Plan B or C," he continued. "We're definitely still attacking it. We'll see what happens, but I'm not going to give up on it. There could be opportunities that come down the road that aren't here right now and we're just going to keep looking for those opportunities.
"I mean, I think there's some things you learn, you're always learning, but would I say we could have done things differently... probably not too much.
"We did a pretty good job of getting to the point of where we were at, I'm sure there's things I learned, but would I do much different from what we did there... probably not."
Fact is, the only other team he could feasibly make a bid for is Haas, though Dmitry Mazepin has made no secret of his desire to step in there.
Williams, which is owned by the US investment firm Dorilton Capital is another possibility, but with the likes of Toto Wolff claiming that the sport is heading for a boom it is unlikely they would be willing to sell anytime soon.