Andretti would like to return to Formula 1
Mario Andretti recently stated that he and his son would like to field a team in Formula 1 if the possibility of using customer cars existed. This is currently prohibited by the regulations.
The Andretti family is part of the history of motor racing and Formula 1. Mario, world champion in 1978 driving a Lotus, started the lineage of a generation of drivers, including Michael, his son, who was present in Formula 1 in 1993 with McLaren alongside Ayrton Senna.
If his career in the premiere discipline of motorsport did not achieve the expected success, he was a multiple winner in CART in the United States, where he even created his own team under the name Andretti Autosport. He will race under this name with a new generation of Andrettis, including his son Marco, who was at one point close to reaching Formula 1.
The Andrettis and Formula 1 are therefore strongly linked, and very recently, Mario stated to the German magazine Allgemeine Zeitung that his son, Michael, might be interested in entering his own team into the discipline if the authorization to race customer single-seaters, bought from big names, were effective: « I have already spoken to Bernie Ecclestone about it. This would allow new teams to enter Formula 1 even if they do not have their own manufacturing plants. My son, Michael, would be one of the first to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase a single-seater from one of the leading manufacturers. »
At the time when regulations allowed it, extremely close ties connected the Red Bull team to Toro Rosso. The small Italian team benefited from running slightly modified Red Bull chassis in order to accommodate Ferrari engines, which could lead to amusing situations where Toro Rosso outpaced its big sister, as seen in the 2008 season.
This idea would not displease Mario Andretti: « I find the idea of seeing a blue Ferrari overtaking a red Ferrari very interesting. It would offer a new interest to F1. »
Since the 2010 season, a provision of the Concorde Agreements, which govern the discipline, requires teams participating in Formula 1 to construct their own cars themselves.
