If things had gone according to plan,
Instead, the 22-year-old Californian is headed to the inaugural
“No, 1,000% no, that's not what happened,” Andretti told The Associated Press. “It fell apart because all of a sudden they changed the terms and they wanted to control everything. They wanted veto power on every decision. They changed that two days before the deal was supposed to be signed. So I don't give a crap what anyone says, we were never going to do a deal in which we bought the team but didn't have control of the team.”
In February, his father Mario, the 1978 F1 champion, revealed that his son had asked F1's governing body to expand the 20-car grid and admit Andretti into the top series in motorsports. There's been almost no movement since; the FIA, F1 and
Several F1 teams have publicly said they are against expansion because adding two cars will dilute the purse, and there are indications that Andretti isn't the only one asking about starting a team.
With each passing day,
“I talked to (
Andretti said he doesn't have the personal funds needed to launch an F1 team — there's an initial
Andretti, who spent 1993 commuting between the
At a news conference in March to announce a 2023 race in
Until
“We have 10 great teams already and we have the potential over time to add more teams,” Maffei told AP. “We have a lot of demand for people who want to add teams, either by buying a team or expanding teams. We'll look at that over time and see what they can add and we'll try to build a consensus among the teams and the FIA about who to bring in and what qualifications they need.”
With multiple suitors, AP asked Maffei if being an American gave Andretti an edge considering Liberty and F1's aggressive efforts to expand its North American footprint.
“I think there would be a lot of factors, and being an American can be a positive,” Maffei told AP. “But we'd look at all things that a new team could potentially bring and that's not just access to new markets. Capital opportunities that they know something about, marketing, technology, all of those things would be interesting to us.”
Andretti frankly doesn't have much time to wait, particularly as it pertains to his star driver. Herta tried the European path as a teenager but returned to the
Andretti has since given Herta permission to test an F1 car this year for McLaren, an opportunity that will help him secure the points needed for a license to race in F1. But McLaren is also evaluating Herta for its own plans and his contract with Andretti runs only through 2023.
Should nothing pan out with Andretti and F1 by the time Herta begins talks on a new contract, he'd be free to return to
“I want Colton to stay with us forever,” Andretti said. “But if he's got an opportunity and we don't have that to offer, I can't stand in the way.”
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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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