F1 News Snippets

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Free to throw more cash at their nascent engine programme....

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Andretti hoping (and it's a big hope) for a 2024 entry in F1: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/andretti-reveals-details-of-f1-team-plan-as-clock-ticks-on-fia-call/8514494/

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Andretti Haas Renault-Ferrari F1 Team. Problem solved.

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https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russian-gp-contract-terminated-sochi-petersburg/8661644/

F1, who originally "suspended" the Russian GP, has now terminated the deal with Russian promoters entirely. Meaning no Sochi 2022, and no Saint Petersburg 2023 and forward. No Russian GP on the horizon for at least a few years, most likely.

While the FIA refused to ban Russian drivers, this comes as a welcome move. We don't punish individuals for their origin, but we do prevent them from representing Russia and we now also prevent Russia from promoting itself through F1. Really appreciate that.

I have two coworkers from Russia who are devastated. One is stuck in Russia, unable to cross the border as he is afraid he will be forced into the Military. His family, and most around him, are strongly opposed to the war. The other, who lives in Stockholm, has had to (hopefully temporarily) cut contact with his family because his family is fully in support of the "peacekeeping operations" Putin has launched in Ukraine. He also feels like he's got a target on his back simply for being Russian, with all the anti-Russia sentiments around the globe. It's weird, isn't it? As a Swede, I'm incredibly fortunate and very spoilt because I have genuinely never known anyone directly affected by war before.

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On a lighter note, the following topics can now be started:

2023 Driver Speculation
2024 Driver Speculation
2025 Driver Speculation
2026 Driver Speculation
2027 Driver Speculation
2028 Driver Speculation

Max confirmed until 2028 at Red Bull. That is a long term deal if ever I saw one.

https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/03/verstappen-signs-new-deal-to-stay-at-red-bull-until-2028/

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I wasn't sure where to post this, but Snippets works. Volkswagen wants two German drivers when their two teams enter F1 in 2026. That's a problem, because Vettel is old, Hülkenberg is both out and old, and Schumacher isn't fast. So who could they employ? Well, I'll use my lovely future predictions document for this and rate the drivers in order of how likely they are to even be in F1 in 2026.

1. Mick Schumacher (27 years)
2. Pascal Wehrlein (32 years)
3. Nico Hülkenberg (39 years)
4. Sebastian Vettel (39 years)
5. Lirim Zendeli (27 years)
6. David Beckmann (26 years)
7. David Schumacher (25 years)

They better hope someone pops up until then, there are no talented Germans in junior racing right now.

In F2, there are none (although aforementioned Beckmann competed in the last race at Imola)

In F3, there is one driver, David Schumacher. He's not good enough for F3, so likely not good enough for F1.

In various F4 series, we have Tim Tramnitz (2021 ADAC F4 runner-up) and that's pretty much it. I guess they'll have to expand it to neighbouring countries. Roman Staněk of Czechia, Frederik Vesti of Denmark, and Tijmen van der Helm of the Netherlands are all more likely to end up in F1 in the future than any German rookie I know of!

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So that's Porsche as an engine supplier, possibly for Red Bull, which seems pretty straightforward; and Audi as a full entrant but through buying an existing team - and thank God because we certainly don't ever want more than 20 cars on the grid.... And I think Audi must fall into the 'believe it when I see it' category, just trying to think who they'd target now that McLaren has rebuffed their approaches.

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just trying to think who they'd target now that McLaren has rebuffed their approaches.

From a business perspective, I'd say Williams makes sense. Dorilton Capital is in it to make money, and selling to Audi makes money.

Of course, Aston Martin and Sauber are two other options.

In a perfect world, F1 could enjoy five competitive engines in 2026:

Porsche:
Red Bull
AlphaTauri

Mercedes:
Mercedes
McLaren

Ferrari:
Ferrari
Haas
(Alfa Romeo)

Renault:
Alpine
Andretti
(Sauber)

Audi:
Aston Martin
Williams

But we could never have 11 teams divided on 5 different manufactures, yet see all engines used by at least 2 teams. That would make too much sense.

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Audi-Sauber could be announced as soon as this weekend's Belgian GP, for a 2026 debut.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/audis-f1-plans-take-shape-as-announcement-looms/10356808/

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Would be novel to have an actual new team in F1 but seems we're forever stuck with just 20 cars on the grid

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Off-season? I think not. Binotto resigns.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/binotto-resigns-as-ferrari-f1-team-principal/10405914/

Word is, Fred Vasseur is a potential replacement. He'd build the team around Leclerc, much to Sainz's chagrin.

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And what happens next year when Ferrari finishes behind both Red Bull and Mercedes....

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Another almost certainly not new team for F1:

Lo, a 45-year-old Canadian businessman who has connections with Williams owners Dorilton Capital, sayshe is actively investigating the possibility of financing his own Formula 1 team, either by purchasing an existing team or setting up a new entry.

"In the last few years, I've been approached by many players in the F1 world, from teams to highly aspirational potential team owners or investors," Lo told the Daily Star. "We've been looking at a current team and that's how the idea of starting a new team came about. There are a lot of opportunities right now. I believe we're going into a new era of a younger audience, a newer fanbase. Accessibility seems easier than before.

"We would be very fortunate to be involved, in whatever capacity. With a current team, that would be faster. Realistically, to get the car on the grid [with a new team], it would be 2026. That's a short period of time, a very tight timeline."

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And on that subject...

Michael Andretti says that his team's efforts to secure a place on the F1 grid are making "pretty good progress".

The Andretti organisation, which runs teams in series such as IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E, has been actively lobbying for a place onto the Formula 1 grid in future seasons – either by acquiring an existing team or as an entirely new, 11th entry. Speaking as the team introduced W Series champion Jamie Chadwick to their Indy Nxt programme for 2023, Andretti said his team was still committed to joining F1.

"We're still moving forward, still working hard," Andretti said. "I think we made pretty good progress the last couple of months. And we're not giving up."

Andretti announced in August it plans to build a new headquarters in Indiana at a cost of £170 million. "We actually have the groundbreaking next week for the new facility," he said in response to a question from RaceFans. "So we're really excited about that, it's going to be awesome."

Just the minor issue remains of getting other teams to agree to share the prize money....

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And in sadder news, I see Patrick Tambay has died aged 73: https://www.racefans.net/2022/12/04/two-time-grand-prix-winner-tambay-dies-aged-73/