Jake Dennis went into the first race of Formula E’s Diriyah E-Prix doubleheader thinking he had a shot at the win, but his 13-second demolition job took him by surprise. While less than a second covered the rest of the top five, Dennis sailed off …
Jake Dennis went into the first race of Formula E’s Diriyah E-Prix doubleheader thinking he had a shot at the win, but his 13-second demolition job took him by surprise.
While less than a second covered the rest of the top five, Dennis sailed off into the distance, keeping enough in hand to add the fastest lap late on, too. He knew he was fast, but the mammoth gap wasn’t expected.
“Nobody expects to win by 13 seconds, and if you do you’re very arrogant,” he told RACER. “But yeah, we had an incredible race today and didn’t expect it at all. The car was performing absolutely amazing. It’s good to hear that there was overtaking from behind — it looked like it was a pretty exciting race on the big screens but yeah, awesome race. Hopefully we can replicate it tomorrow.”
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The Andretti Global driver had a watching brief as DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne sparred for the race win with Jaguar TCS’s Mitch Evans, but a perfectly timed Attack Zone strategy allowed him to get the leap on both, and unlock the true pace of his Porsche-powered car.
“There was obviously a lot going on; the team had their numbers and I had the feeling I had in the car and I think they didn’t realize how much pace I had compared to what I could do,” he said. “Ultimately, being able to show that pace allowed me to make the jump on JEV and Mitch.”
Dennis’ first Attack Zone run brought him right into the victory fight, but instead of using that and his pace to fight for position, and saving his second pass though for later in the race, he got it out of the way two laps later. It was a decision that consolidated his position at the front of the field, and ultimately helped him stretch out a big lead.
“You just want to get it out of the way because the Attack mode here isn’t that powerful,” he said of the quick one-two punch with the Attack Zone. “It was important to get it done and then cover ourselves if there was a safety car or something.”
Dennis’ relatively trouble-free run fit the narrative in the paddock pre-race that Diriyah could be a somewhat dull affair, but behind him there was plenty going on as Evans and Vergne battled over second, with Evans eventually slipping to fifth. Saturday’s second race though will be a lap shorter, with the same starting energy amount, meaning that there will be less energy saving and less opportunities to overtake. Conversely, track evolution could help drivers push harder, in itself opening up more opportunities.
“I’m glad that there’s overtaking — I didn’t expect there to be any and it’s good that there is,” Dennis said. “Each lap we do the track cleans up more and more, which allows us to take more risks on overtakes. The race will be more difficult to overtake tomorrow because it is shorter and more energy, and hopefully we’re at the front and we can do our own thing.”
Jake Dennis claimed victory in the first race of the Diriyah E-Prix doubleheader, timing his Attack Mode power boost use to perfection in crushing the rest of the ABB Formula E World Championship field by 13.289s. The opening stage of the 37-lap …
Jake Dennis claimed victory in the first race of the Diriyah E-Prix doubleheader, timing his Attack Mode power boost use to perfection in crushing the rest of the ABB Formula E World Championship field by 13.289s.
The opening stage of the 37-lap race was a story of front row starters Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans as they battled over the race lead, but it was that fight that allowed Andretti Global’s Dennis to start to build an advantage.
After Dennis’ first run through the Attack Mode lane on lap 6, he only narrowly dropped behind DS Penske man Vergne, but when he took the slower line again two laps later, he maintained track position and never looked back from that point.
Vergne and Evans, meanwhile, continued to squabble over second. The Jaguar TCS driver got by up the inside of Turn 18 on lap 12, and then set about chasing down Dennis for the race lead, using his power boost built from his run through the attack zone to close up. A repeat move at Turn 18 didn’t give him the race lead, though, with him running deep and bringing Vergne back into the fight.
Vergne then beat Evans at his own game at Turn 18, sneaking up the inside of Evans, who dropped off the clean line. The pair made contact on the exit, but Vergne held strong and consolidated second.
Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans set the pace early, but Dennis’s strategy would prove the canniest. Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
While Vergne’s energy level was lower than the cars around him, Evans’ attention was instead taken by teammate Nick Cassidy behind him. The pair engaged in team strategy swapping positions multiple times as they looked to secure a double podium for Jaguar. Yet Vergne maintained second, while NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird — part of a gaggle of mid-pack cars who left it late to use their Attack Mode boosts — closed up late in the race in a bid to spoil the party.
Nevertheless, a podium of Dennis, Vergne, and Evans looked to be nailed down — until the final lap where Evans made a last-ditch bid to snatch second. The move, once again at Turn 18, proved costly, however, as he ran deep and slipped to fifth behind Cassidy and Bird.
Up front, such was Dennis’ advantage thanks to his trouble-free run after taking the lead and the battles going on behind him, he had enough energy in his pocket to make two attempts at the fastest lap, which he nailed on lap 34 and again on lap 36.
Behind the top five, Norman Nato was sixth in the other Andretti entry, with Maximillian Guenther seventh for Maserati. Mexico City winner Pascal Wehrlein finished eight after a poor start dropped him from sixth to ninth at the start of the race. Ninth went to Sergio Sette Camara, who had a look up the inside of Evans at Turn 1 on the opening lap, but his ERT’s efficiency deficit proved to be a handicap, robbing him of a realistic chance at remaining in the top five.
Robin Frijns completed the top 10, beating McLaren’s Jake Hughes by a mere 0.053s.
There was only one retirement, with Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz sustaining suspension damage after contact on lap 1. While he pitted for repairs, his day ultimately came to an end after he completed just 12 laps.
Nowadays Michael Andretti’s empire stretches across all of motorsport, something reflected in the organization’s recent name change to Andretti Global. But aside from brief forays into the American Le Mans Series and A1GP in the late 2000s, the …
Nowadays Michael Andretti’s empire stretches across all of motorsport, something reflected in the organization’s recent name change to Andretti Global. But aside from brief forays into the American Le Mans Series and A1GP in the late 2000s, the team’s motorsport activities were contained in the IndyCar ecosystem for much of its early history. A shift began in 2014 with moves into rallycross and Formula E, the latter of which has gone on to become one of Andretti’s longest-running programs. In fact, as the electric series celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Andretti remains the only outfit that has contested every season to date, with fellow Season 1 survivor Mahindra being the same in name only, having undergone multiple organizational and structural changes since it was run by Carlin in that first campaign.
“At the time, IndyCar wasn’t in the greatest of shapes and there was a feeling that if we had all of our eggs in one basket — the Road to Indy ladder, IndyCar itself — and there was a problem within the championship, we’d be very exposed as an organization,” Andretti Global’s Formula E and Extreme E team principal Roger Griffiths tells RACER. “We’ve always looked at diversifying our racing programs and also to take it on to a more global stage than just primarily domestic America.”
But Formula E? What was then a new and unproven concept?
“Formula E, we felt, was an interesting championship,” Griffiths continues. “It ticks a lot of boxes as far as we’re concerned. Michael has always been a big advocate around the environment. Whether electric is the right direction from his perspective is another matter, but he certainly wanted to explore it.
“Alejandro (Agag, Formula E founder) is a really good salesman, so we stepped up, and we were really the first proper racing team to put our name to this championship.”
A decade later, Andretti has an FIA world title to its name thanks to Formula E. But aside from the plaudits, the championship also allowed the wider Andretti organization to get something of a head start on what motorsport would morph into.
“It was just sort of a toe in the water to see what was going on, but it was also interesting to learn a little bit about this energy management style of racing we could see slowly starting to unfold,” Griffiths explains.
Energy management has since become a key pillar of Formula 1, which Andretti is pushing to join, while IndyCar’s impending switch to hybrids may also open the door to similar thinking, something that Andretti’s Formula E team will be able to help with.
“As IndyCar goes hybrid, we’ve obviously got a tremendous amount of experience in energy management and how that plays out,” Griffiths says. “Obviously they’re going to use it in a very different way to us — we’re solely electric, that’s our only source of propulsion, whereas they’re going to use it for the Push-to-Pass scenarios. But certainly we can advise and give them some direction on what to do under some specific circumstances if the questions come up.”
Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
The transfer of knowledge is something that has long gone on between Andretti’s open-wheel operations. Initially it was the Formula E side leaning on the long-established IndyCar group, but now as IndyCar continues to develop and modernize, those roles are somewhat reversing.
“At the time (of the start of Formula E) the IndyCar group had an extremely strong engineering team, and they were sort of feeding us some of the technology, particularly around what we could do with damping, what we could do with other parts of suspension within the regulations, so we were leaning a little bit on them,” Griffiths says. “And they were coming to see what we were up to, because it was a European style of racing rather than the North American style.
“To some extent, we’ve been a little bit independent of what’s happened in North America because we recognized, as we got more and more serious about Formula E, we couldn’t really have this split engineering base of Indianapolis and Banbury (in the UK), so we started building the Formula E engineering team,” he continues. “We still looked to one or two of the IndyCar engineers to help.”
A big area that Andretti’s IndyCar side has been able to gain from the Formula E team is simulation, which is a major component of Formula E. While its importance in IndyCar is ever-increasing, the head start that Andretti’s UK-based operation has given it has been hugely beneficial to the team, and in fact, other Honda runners.
“We took some risks here with some early adoption of technology, particularly around the simulation,” Griffiths says. “If you’re a Honda team, there’s a simulation package you have to run. We actually had so much more knowledge within the Formula E team, we were sending staff over to Indianapolis to train them on how to use simulation, so we took the lead on those kinds of things.
“Both groups were doing simulation, but this particular simulation package ended up being something that Honda mandated and we actually had conversations with — at the time — HPD about this program (about) was it the right thing for them … and we were able to transfer that knowledge to the IndyCar base.
“I know Honda has its own simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana but we now have one in-house in Banbury, so we’re up to speed, fully self-sufficient. It took quite a bit of convincing with Michael to be able to get that simulator, but I think now he’s starting to see the reasons why we really, really wanted to do it. And it probably will pave the way for a future simulator in Indianapolis, to make their life a lot easier too.”
Andretti’s Formula E team also has a mission control-like race operations room at its UK base that’s in constant communication with the race team during sessions. The initiative has long been a feature of Formula 1 and, as with simulation, could be another thing that Andretti’s IndyCar program can gain from Formula E.
“We’ve been running a race operations room for a number of seasons now. It’s something that’s been looked at Indianapolis,” Griffiths reveals. “If they can do that, have people a little bit removed from the front line, or perhaps able to make decisions without quite the pressure of being on the timing stand… we’re doing that, bringing all of the information into one centralized place.
“Admittedly, it’s a little easier for us because we’re only looking after two cars — last season they had four, this season three,” he notes. “There’s always conversations back and forth between Eric Bretzman (IndyCar technical director) and Campbell Hobson (Formula E team manager) and myself as to the right type of technology, what are we doing, what are the latest thoughts.”
The professionalism of the Formula E operation hasn’t gone unnoticed by those outside of the Andretti company, either, as Griffiths found out on a trip to the Portland IndyCar race last year after last June’s inaugural E-Prix there.
“One of the things I did last year, and it was a little bit out of my own curiosity, was having done the Portland Formula E race, I went to the Portland IndyCar race to compare and contrast — not just how we work as a team, but what the venue looks like, what an IndyCar race is, (and) how does that show compare to a Formula E race,” he says. “It was orders of magnitude more professional in Formula E. Our garage marshal said, ‘You guys are the most professional racing team we’ve ever had here.’”
The professionalism of the Formula E operation opened some eyes at Portland International Raceway. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
While Andretti is closely aligned with Honda in IndyCar, in Formula E it works closely with Porsche, having previously enjoyed a close relationship with BMW. That relationship lasted for three years as a works partnership, and continued for another season as a customer arrangement, but it followed a brief spell where Andretti itself was an OEM. It was an unsuccessful period culminating in the only seasons where the team didn’t claim a podium finish, but Griffiths nevertheless remembers those years fondly.
“We dabbled with being a constructor — we always had the thought that Andretti could actually look at designing its own powertrains, designing its own technology, etc. With a very small group of people, we actually were able to do that,” he recalls. “We weren’t particularly successful in terms of race results, but given the resources that we had both financially and human, I think we did a pretty decent job. We were up against some big operations and OEMs which had infinitely more people or technology to their credit.
“We also recognized that to be truly successful, we needed to be partnered with an OEM and we started establishing a strong relationship there. I think that’s something that Andretti has always been good at, is working with OEMs, regardless of what type of racing we do.”
Expanding on the team’s spell as an OEM, Griffiths adds, “We had an immense amount of fun designing our own powertrain — it was great. It was just three or four of us that did all of the work. We really enjoyed the opportunity, and we kind of ticked a box to say that, ‘Yeah, we can do it,’ Would we want to do it again? Maybe we’d look at a project managing something, but I don’t see us ever stepping back into the arena, trying to design our own powertrain.
“Ultimately, I think what it did was it really taught us engineering process, things like that. It taught us how to really analyze what it is that we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We only had one shot at it. We threw quite a few darts and most of them hit the target.”
The close-quarters nature of FE street battles created some tension between Andretti and Porsche’s works team last year, but Griffiths says they’ve worked through it.
Andretti aligned with Porsche after BMW’s exit from the series, and head of Formula E’s GEN3 era, but it’s a marriage that hasn’t always been plain sailing, especially when it came to the intense title fight involving the factory team’s Pascal Wehrlein and Andretti’s eventual champion Jake Dennis.
“I think it’s fair to say, and it’s fairly public knowledge, that there was some friction last year, between us and Porsche,” Griffiths concedes. ”So we’ve had a big reset. We had an all team meeting in Valencia with 70-plus people in the room, the whole Andretti group, the whole Porsche group, mechanics, everybody was in that room. We spoke openly, we met on several occasions to talk about how we should improve, and what were the rules of engagement.
“Yes, we’re free to race each other, but the golden rule is there must be no contact between the four Porsche cars … And at the end of the day from the Porsche board, they don’t care which car wins, as long as it’s a Porsche.”
Nevertheless, the theme of collaboration seen with the Andretti IndyCar group continues.
“There is a level of integration we’re starting to see between us. The drivers are openly sharing ideas — they’re communicating much more, there’s a lot more integration between our engineering team and Porsche’s engineering team — because at the end of the day, we’re operating in a cost cap environment, and if we can provide engineering resource at our expense, which doesn’t hit Porsche’s cost cap, then that’s a win win for both of us.
“Ultimately, I don’t think we’re ever going to be best friends, but we’re happy to go and have a beer with them and we’re happy to share a joke with them.”
A decade after its debut, Andretti’s Formula E team has become a pillar of the organization as well as the series itself. With 10 wins, it’s currently the sixth-most successful team ever to compete in the championship, ranking it ahead of the likes of double champions Mercedes (which departed after the 2021-22 season), the factory Porsche team, and fellow Season 1 competitors Mahindra, which has only half as many victories. And following last season’s title, the future looks brighter still.
Renault says it will resume talks with Andretti Global and General Motors regarding a technical partnership if the team is granted an entry into Formula 1. The FIA approved Andretti Global’s application in October, with GM confirming in November …
Renault says it will resume talks with Andretti Global and General Motors regarding a technical partnership if the team is granted an entry into Formula 1.
The FIA approved Andretti Global’s application in October, with GM confirming in November that it intends to become a full power unit supplier in F1 from 2028 onwards. While there is currently no agreement in place with Formula One Management (FOM) that would allow Andretti to join as a new team, its intention was to be on the grid in either 2025 or ’26, meaning a power unit supply deal would be required initially, something Alpine Motorsports vice president Bruno Famin says is still on the cards.
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“We are talking to Andretti and to General Motors,” Famin said. “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 longer than expected, first on the FIA side — the FIA took much more time to answer than they said in the beginning.
“Now the ball is on the Formula 1 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. Factually, right now, we don’t have any legal commitment with them.
“But we are happy to talk with them and see what we can do together. If they have an entry, it’s because they will have demonstrated they will bring a lot of added value to Formula 1, and that the value of the championship and the teams will not be diluted due to that.”
FOM has not put a timeframe on when it might take a decision on Andretti’s entry bid, with RACER understanding the requested anti-dilution fee could be revisited as part of new Concorde Agreement discussions first. While continuing with car development, Andretti’s hopes of being on the grid in 2025 mean it would have abide by the FIA Financial Regulations from this week onwards.
Multiple team bosses remain wary of the proposed Andretti Cadillac entry, despite General Motors committing to becoming a full power unit supplier from 2028 onwards. GM announced ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend that it registered with the …
Multiple team bosses remain wary of the proposed Andretti Cadillac entry, despite General Motors committing to becoming a full power unit supplier from 2028 onwards.
GM announced ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend that it registered with the FIA to produce its own power unit in just over four years’ time, when Formula 1 will be under new engine regulations. In the statement, the manufacturer confirmed it would be for the Andretti Cadillac team to ensure a full works effort, and Toto Wolff says it’s a positive step but still wants to see facts for how it would enhance the sport.
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“GM is one of the big players, no doubt,” Wolff said. “And I guess if they say they want to join the sport in ‘28, they’re serious about it and it’s a good commitment. But, you know, we need to see whether the commercial rights holder deems this to be a good entry or not.
“For many teams it is big dilution that can make the difference between big losses or less losses, and I haven’t changed my opinion on that.
“We haven’t seen any data, just to say it’s going be awesome. Where’s the case? What are the numbers? How much can we gain in popularity? What’s the name worth? How much more can the sport be attractive? What are the facts? And if those facts are positive, I have no doubt that F1 will consider that in that way.”
Williams team principal James Vowles had previously stated he’d welcome working with GM in future, but says he is still opposed to a new team entering F1.
“I can’t really comment much on it, I don’t know what the relationship is between those two entities,” Vowles said. “My comment was more that GM, I think, is a good company to bring into our sport. That was more what it was around and we have no discussions with them. But I just think they’re the sort of company, the sort of OEM, that will grow our sport as a result of things.
“But my view hasn’t changed on the addition of an 11th team. Fundamentally, it’s still around the finances of Williams, which is where my focus is.”
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur similarly says GM is welcome as the sport can easily accommodate more power unit suppliers, but that an extra team is a different matter.
“If the question is on GM, I think every single new engine supplier is welcome in F1,” Vasseur said. “But it’s not the same story as the 11th team. It’s two separate questions. I think the real question is on the engine supplier and we can have a new engine supplier.”
Andretti’s bid has had one constantly public supporter among the team principals in the form of McLaren’s Zak Brown, who is also positive about the GM news.
“We partner with GM in our IndyCar team,” Brown said. “They’ve got a great history in motor racing and the more power units in the sport, I think, the better.”
General Motors has announced it has formally registered as a Formula 1 power unit manufacturer starting from 2028, and plans to supply Andretti Cadillac as a full works team. Andretti Cadillac’s entry has been approved by the FIA but still needs to …
General Motors has announced it has formally registered as a Formula 1 power unit manufacturer starting from 2028, and plans to supply Andretti Cadillac as a full works team.
Andretti Cadillac’s entry has been approved by the FIA but still needs to reach a commercial agreement with Formula One Management (FOM) to be able to join the grid, and has faced opposition from existing teams. After recently reiterating that it was only interesting in partnering with Andretti, GM has now made the major announcement that it will provide a full power unit to the Andretti Cadillac team as an F1 supplier.
“We are thrilled that our new Andretti Cadillac F1 entry will be powered by a GM power unit,” GM President Mark Reuss said. “With our deep engineering and racing expertise, we’re confident we’ll develop a successful power unit for the series, and position Andretti Cadillac as a true works team. We will run with the very best, at the highest levels, with passion and integrity that will help elevate the sport for race fans around the world.”
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F1’s power unit regulations are set to change in 2026, and there are currently six manufacturers registered with the FIA including Alpine, Audi, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes and Red Bull Ford. GM would become the seventh manufacturer from 2028 onwards.
GM states that “engineering a F1 power unit will advance GM’s expertise in areas including electrification, hybrid technology, sustainable fuels, high efficiency internal combustion engines, advanced controls, and software systems,” while highlighting its recent success developing the 5.5-liter DOHC V8 powertrain that was used in this year’s IMSA and WEC championships.
Andretti Global will move forward with three full-time NTT IndyCar Series entries. “There will be just the three,” Andretti COO Rob Edwards told RACER. The decision signals an end to its recent practice of fielding a fourth car for hire by a driver …
Andretti Global will move forward with three full-time NTT IndyCar Series entries.
“There will be just the three,” Andretti COO Rob Edwards told RACER.
The decision signals an end to its recent practice of fielding a fourth car for hire by a driver bringing funding to race alongside the team’s paid professionals; prior to accepting paying drivers, Andretti used all four of its cars to compete for wins and podiums.
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The expansion to four cars delivered immediate success with championships for Tony Kanaan in 2004, Dan Wheldon in 2005, and Dario Franchitti in 2007, and the change to running three comes after entering four full-time cars in 16 of the last 18 seasons.
In recent years, the Andretti team’s sustained competitiveness with four has wavered; it’s more than a decade removed from its last championship victory, earned by Ryan Hunter-Reay in the first year of IndyCar’s new chassis and engine formula in 2012.
Andretti had run four full-time entries for much of the last two decades – Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Bryan Herta and Dario Franchitti pictured at Michigan in 2004. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images
Since the debut of the Dallara DW12 and the 2.2-liter turbocharged V6 motors, Andretti has come close to adding another title on numerous occasions, with former driver Alexander Rossi taking second in 2018 and third in 2019, and from its current roster, Colton Herta reached third in the Drivers’ standings in 2020. But since then, the organization has taken a large step backwards with its top performers finishing ninth in 2022 and 10th in 2023.
Heading into 2024, Andretti veterans Herta and Kyle Kirkwood will be joined by former Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Ericsson as its core trio, and Edwards says the Honda-powered team is seeking the same reward experienced by Team Penske which cut its fourth car after the 2021 season and reaped the benefits of being smaller and more efficient by capturing the 2022 IndyCar title with Will Power.
“We’re definitely trying to focus our efforts and with a view to more race wins and championships and Indy 500s,” he said. “We look at what Penske did when they went from four to three, and in their case, they had four strong drivers, not ride buyers, but they still felt operationally that it was an advantage for them to do three and we see some similar advantages. And so we’re going to tread down that path and focus on Colton, Kyle, and Marcus.”
Amid the changes, Andretti will maintain continuity with the engineers attached to its three cars.
“Nathan O’Rourke will continue to work with Colton and Jeremy Milless will continue to work with Kyle, which obviously was successful last year,” Edwards said of the two wins Kirkwood delivered. “And then Olivier Boisson is going to be with Marcus and they’ve already had two or three days working together it’s working very well.”
Andretti will also enter the Indy 500 with a smaller effort of four cars in place of its familiar five.
“The plan is certainly to be four at the 500,” Edwards added. “There’s no anticipated plan to run more than that. Obviously, the 500 is super important and so that same drive to focus on the three cars for season would lead us to only add the one car for the 500.”
Since retiring from IndyCar at the end of 2020, Marco Andretti has returned to pilot an extra entry at the last three Indy 500s with a best performance of 17th in May.
Circuit of The Americas chairman Bobby Epstein wants to see Andretti join the Formula 1 grid but doesn’t believe it will have an impact on interest around the United States Grand Prix. Andretti Cadillac’s application was approved by the FIA, …
Circuit of The Americas chairman Bobby Epstein wants to see Andretti join the Formula 1 grid but doesn’t believe it will have an impact on interest around the United States Grand Prix.
Andretti Cadillac’s application was approved by the FIA, allowing the team to move onto the next stage of the process with Formula One Management (FOM) to try and discuss commercial terms. As much of the focus has been on the financial impact of adding a new team, race promoters are likely to be asked their opinions on expansion and Epstein says it is only likely to make a major impact on the USGP if Andretti is in a position to win races.
“It doesn’t (change much),” Epstein told RACER. “I’m interested in what sells tickets and a winning U.S. team would help sell tickets. Otherwise, I hope it happens simply because Mario Andretti was very good to us and has been a very good friend of the track. So it’s one on a personal level that I hope it happens, rather than necessarily on a business level.”
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Epstein says the Austin F1 venue doesn’t need Andretti in the sense that the huge fan base that already exists has connected with the current set of teams and drivers regardless of nationality.
“No, you don’t (need an American team). A winning American driver would be fantastic. In the absence of that … I think the rest of it is just some nice to have,” he said. “It doesn’t move the needle for us.”
Michael and Mario Andretti are expected to be present at COTA for part of the United States Grand Prix weekend, but RACER understands no direct discussions with FOM are currently planned.
Jamie Chadwick’s American open-wheel racing adventure will continue with Andretti Global. The Briton, who made her Indy NXT debut in 2023 after clinching three consecutive W Series titles, rejoins Andretti for 2024 with the returning Louis Foster …
Jamie Chadwick’s American open-wheel racing adventure will continue with Andretti Global. The Briton, who made her Indy NXT debut in 2023 after clinching three consecutive W Series titles, rejoins Andretti for 2024 with the returning Louis Foster and James Roe and newcomer Bryce Aron.
“I’m really looking forward to being back with Andretti to compete in my second Indy NXT season,” she said. “My first year with the team taught me so much and we were able to make a lot of progress with every race. I know that taking this experience and confidence into 2024 is going to be massively valuable for us, and I truly feel like part of the family here. I can’t wait to hit the ground running this winter and see what we can do for next season.”
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Chadwick’s results improved during her rookie season as she came to grips with the Dallara IL15-AER, which is bigger, heavier and faster than any of the cars previously wielded by the diminutive 25-year-old.
“It’s a pleasure to have Jamie return to our Indy NXT team for 2024,” said team owner Michael Andretti. “Developing talent has always been a priority for Andretti, and Jamie’s motorsports journey is a perfect example of what we hope to achieve with our development drivers. Jamie represents what it means to break down barriers and continues to impress everyone in our organization. The growth that we saw in Jamie’s rookie season was strong and we’re confident that coming back to Indy NXT is the right choice as she continues to advance her open-wheel career.”
Recent Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global) driver Romain Grosjean is pursuing arbitration with his former employers after a contentious two-year relationship met its end in September. In a statement released by the Swiss-born Frenchman on …
Recent Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global) driver Romain Grosjean is pursuing arbitration with his former employers after a contentious two-year relationship met its end in September.
In a statement released by the Swiss-born Frenchman on social media, he said, “I enjoyed working with the IndyCar team at Andretti Autosport and am proud of the successes we shared through two seasons. I am thankful for the many friendships developed at the highest level of American open-wheel racing. I had expected to continue racing with the fine people of Andretti Autosport in the coming years.
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“I am disappointed that is not being fulfilled, and wish Andretti team members well. I am pursuing other options to continue my IndyCar career in pursuit of excellence. I have commenced an arbitration proceeding in Indiana against Andretti Autosport, seeking to protect my rights.”
Speaking with RACER, Grosjean declined to discuss the specifics of what he is seeking from the team owned by Michael Andretti, but did say, “I love the IndyCar fans and I’m looking forward to my next challenge in the series.”
After making his IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing in 2021, Grosjean signed a two-year contract with Andretti, which reached its conclusion after the season finale in Monterey. Months prior in April, after a strong start to the 2023 championship in the No. 28 Andretti Honda was recorded, the driver and owner were on track to sign an extension that would keep Grosjean in the car for 2024 and beyond.
Multiple sources have told RACER the issues that have led Grosjean to pursue some form of compensation from Andretti through arbitration stem from the execution of a contract extension that was presented to him, signed, and returned by the former Formula 1 driver, but was not countersigned by the team.The initial expression of interest in the presentation of an extension, which allegedly went unsigned, is believed to be the bone of contention for Grosjean, who has not been retained to drive for the team.
RACER understands that after coming off a pair of podiums in the No. 28 entry, the goodwill that led to starting the contract extension process hit a rough patch after Grosjean crashed at the Indianapolis 500, crashed at the next race in Detroit, and had a trouble-filled run to 25th-place at Road America, which is said to have caused the Andretti team to take a wait-and-see approach on moving forward with finalizing the new contract.
Although their fortunes improved on occasion during the final nine races, during which Grosjean produced a best finish of sixth at Nashville, the relationship between the driver and team appeared to deteriorate — sometimes during NBC broadcasts – and no news was forthcoming on the extension.
On a similar timeline near the end of the season, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was signed by Andretti Global, and while the team has not announced which entry number he will drive, the 2022 Indy 500 winner is known to have Grosjean’s former race engineer Olivier Boisson assigned to his car.
Reached for comment, an Andretti Global representative said, “Per established team policy, we have no comment on ongoing legal matters.”
This story was updated after initial publication to include the statement from Andretti Global.
