Andretti prepping 2023-spec F1 car for wind tunnel test

Michael Andretti has revealed that the US outfit will test a 2023-spec Formula 1 car in Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne next week as it prepares for a potential entry into the sport in 2025.

Andretti-Cadillac was recently given the green light by the FIA to enter the championship, and it now needs to find a financial agreement with Formula 1 itself to be accepted as the sport’s 11th entrant.

Speaking in Austin over the US Grand Prix weekend, Andretti said that his team’s preparations continue to unfold at a steady pace, and that the upcoming wind tunnel test is a key part of its build-up process.

“Thank you to the FIA and the president of the FIA for putting the expression of interest out there,” Andretti told Sky Sports.

“It was very vigorous, it was a very tough thing to go through for our team, and I’m proud to say we came out on top in every category.

“We’re very proud of that. I think it definitely shows that we have the right to be here on the grid, and we’re excited about that.”

• Read also: Alpine says engine pre-contract with Andretti has expired

Andretti Cadillac is targeting a 2025 entry into Formula 1, but its entrance could be pushed back to 2026 if necessary.

“We’re still shooting for ’25,,” Andretti said. “Our car is actually going to be in a wind tunnel next week. So we have a car already built up in 23-spec.

“We’re flat-out building a team. At the moment it’s ’25, could be ’26, but we’ll see.”

Andretti’s F1 ambitions are still getting a significant amount of push-back from a majority of the sport’s incumbents who argue that adding an eleventh outfit to the grid will only dilute F1’s prize-money fund.

To that argument, the American team owner has responded by claiming that his outfit will add value to the sport’s platform and boost its revenue in the long term.

“It is a mystery to me in some ways why they are pushing back,” said Andretti.

"They say we are slicing the pie but I think the point is we hopefully bring in more than what we take away and we really believe that. We think we are going to add to it and not take away from it.

"I think there is plenty to go around and, if we can help improve the popularity of the US from where it is today, then I think there are a lot of companies that are not in the series right now that have already contacted us and are interested in it.

"Once we get the approval then they want to talk to us, so I disagree with that."

Assuming Andretti-Cadillac does join motorsport’s elite, the team still intends to field at least one American driver, with Colton Herta its standout candidate.

However, the IndyCar star has yet to qualify for F1’s mandatory Super-License.

"Obviously, we talked a lot about Colton, and Colton is definitely at the top of our list, but we have the points problem, so we have to see how he does in IndyCar to hopefully get enough points to get a superlicence," said Andretti.

"We talked to a few others that do qualify. But the goal is to have at least one American in the car and then an experienced driver in the other car to help mentor him."

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