Michael Andretti and Andretti Global’s bid to join Formula 1 may have been slowed, but it’s not been stopped.
Today at Silverstone in the U.K., Andretti Global formally opened a new facility that the team says is “the next stage of its preparations to enter the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.”
Andretti’s years-long bid to join the F1 grid hit a road block on January 31 when F1 announced that it had turned down Andretti and instead invited the organization to re-apply for admission to F1 for 2028. Reasons for the rejection included that F1 wanted Andretti to have it’s own engine deal—Cadillac has announced plans to enter F1 with Andretti as a manufacturer as early as 2028—and F1 was concerned that Andretti would not be able to field a competitive entry out off the blocks.
Today, Andretti took the next steps in its F1 journey with the opening of a 48,000-square-foot facility at the famed Silverstone race complex in the U.K.
According to Andretti Global, the space will house manufacturing facilities, including pattern, model and machine shops, ADM, electronics, R&D and additional office and meeting facilities. It will continue to work hand in hand with the principal Andretti site in Indianapolis and the team’s Formula E facility in Banbury.
Michael and Mario Andretti, along with Andretti Global partner Dan Towriss and team president J.F. Thormann and approximately 80 employees were on hand for today’s opening.
Up until now, different aspects of the Andretti F1 operation has been run out of a space at Silverstone, and also at team facilities in both Indianapolis and at the GM Tech Center at Charlotte, N.C.
“We have said that our work continues at pace; this new facility embodies that work,” Michael Andretti said. “While we plan to have an all-American team, with the car assembled in the U.S., having a European base is a great way to attract the best in F1 talent and install state of the art machinery.
“I want to see integration between all the bases, between the U.S. and Silverstone, as we move forward—but that is already happening today, with some really great collaboration on all fronts. There is literally hundreds of years of experience in this Silverstone building. Every person here knows what they are doing and is capable of building a very competitive race car. We’re excited by this very unique opportunity as we move forward.”
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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