Michael Andretti's quest to be a Formula 1 team owner received a resounding boost as Renault (aka Alpine) are open to talking about a Power Unit supply deal for the ambitious General Motors-backed American project.
While GM are going to develop their own F1 PU in due course, Andretti had inked a "pre-contract" with Renault to be their supplier but that lapsed. However, Alpine's acting F1 team boss Bruno Famin revealed he is open to a new deal.
Famin told Motorsport Network: "We are talking to Andretti and General Motors and we are happy to talk to them. If they have an entry, we are happy to resume the talks. For the time being it's a bit on standby, and not due to us, it's because the length of the process is much, much, much longer than expected."
Indeed it has been a long and arduous journey to get to this point, with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) having gone through a lengthy and rigorous vetting before rubber-stamping Andretti Formula Racing as F1's 11th team. Two other applications, one reportedly formidable did not get the nod.
Now the ball is in Liberty Media's court, which means F1 Chief Stefano Demenicali has the next move, which traditionally is also to give the FIA proposal a tick of approval. But not this time as F1 booms, the money-pie has also grown, and a cabal of elitist team bosses make negative noises about the whole idea.
Alpine of course will benefit, as for now they only power their own two cars. Hence it makes sense to add to the roster from a cost angle and of course, a technical perspective based on the fact that four cars provide double the data that two do, and in F1 where margins are fine, extra input can be valuable in terms of lap times.
Famin explained: “The FIA took much more time to answer than they said at the beginning, now the ball is on the F1 side. If they have an entry, we are happy to discuss with Andretti.
“What I said last time is that we had a pre-contract, the pre-contract has expired, then factually right now we don't have any commitment or any legal commitment with them. But we're happy to talk to them and to see what we can do together.
“If they have an entry it's because they will have demonstrated that they will bring a lot of added value to F1, and that the value of the championship and the teams will not be diluted due to that," which will be music to the ears of not only Andretti but also the FIA whose positive stance, on GM wanting to be in F1, has irked F1 team bosses.
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