Q: I’m writing about a topic you’re likely very familiar with: Michael Andretti and Andretti Global. I have mixed views on Michael, but one thing for sure, he doesn’t say die easily. I first became aware of him during his time in Formula Mondial, thru the CART, F1 and his ambitious team ownership days. He has always been known for his tenacity and aggressive, never-give-up style, which makes his recent decision to step away from the organization he built seem somewhat out of character — it just doesn’t feel like him. Of course, this is ultimately his decision, and I wish him all the best in whatever he chooses to do.
While I feel I have a general sense of who Michael is, the same cannot be said for Dan Towriss and Mr. Walter (don’t even know his first name). Could you provide some insight into who they are and their previous involvement in racing or are they just money people?
Bruce
MP: Torwiss had no involvement in racing that I know of prior to sponsoring Zach Veach through Group 1001/Gainbridge in 2017. Never seen or met Walter, who is the main person behind the acquisition of Andretti, and who owns other major sports teams, and I’ve had limited interactions with Towriss.
Q: What will happen to Peacock’s IndyCar content? Does it remain available after FOX takes over the future schedule?
Brian, Ohio
MP: I sent your question to IndyCar, and here’s what we got:
Peacock will adjust its available INDYCAR programming at its own pace, but the INDYCAR YouTube account boasts much of the same content. Earlier this month, the series began releasing all of the 2024 races on YouTube adding races on each Tuesday and Friday. The whole season will be live by Jan. 31.
Q: Is Dave Sims still with Risi Competizione? What a motorsports career he’s had.
Joe
MP: Sadly, no, “Beaky” retired a few years ago. His recounting of being Jim Clark’s F2 mechanic on that sorrow-filled day at Hockenheim, and all that followed immediately after Clark’s death, is heartbreaking. But then, his tales of life afterwards as an F1 and IndyCar mechanic are heartwarming and loaded with humor. What a gift of a person to any paddock.
Q: While watching the Qatar F1 race with a buddy who’s not the biggest racing fan but sometimes watches some races with me, he noticed the army of crew members who descend upon the cars during pit stops and asked me a question I couldn’t answer: “How much do those guys make?” So I’m wondering, do they make enough money for this to be their full-time job? What is the salary range for crew members across the paddock? How much of the annual team budget is devoted to specifically paying the salaries of the crew members we see on race day?
Rod, Houston, TX
CHRIS MEDLAND: I’m glad you asked this, Rod, because it’s one of the topics I love telling people about. The pit crews are incredible at what they do, and even more so when you consider it is not a full-time job at all. The crew is made up of the mechanics and logistics team members — garage technicians etc. — who are all doing that as a second job on top of their usual roles.
So there’s no salary for a pit crew member, it’s just the salary of their main job. For mechanics that can still be a good income, but it’s not massive — from what I’ve gathered, we’re talking in the region of $60k a year and up (although that is a rough number — as you can imagine, teams don’t want to freely reveal their wage structures).
Q: Why would GM want to enter F1 in 2026 running with Ferrari engines for two seasons? Why not push back entry to 2028 and run with GM/Cadillac engines from the get-go?
Brad/Sussex, WI
CM: Because the sooner GM is in F1, the sooner it can profit from the revenues the sport offers. It will take a number of years to turn a profit after setting the team up, but right now F1’s in a strong place in the U.S. — and globally — and so they want to be part of it ASAP.
You can also learn a lot from those first few years in terms of car design and development, to have more experience and data to lean on come 2028.
Q: When a primary F1 team (e.g. Ferrari) leases engines to other teams, are they the exact same with latest updates, or do leasing team get previous generation units?
Jim Cox, Rock Island, IL
CM: Nowadays, it’s the exact same specification with the latest updates. Early in the V6 hybrid era, the hardware had to be the same but a works team could have different modes available to it based on its development. But the FIA outlawed that a number of years ago to ensure a level playing field.
McLaren actually attributes that as part of the reason why you can be so successful as a customer team, because the only disadvantage is a works team gets a bit more visibility on the power unit’s layout when packing its car.
Q: A lot has been written about Gene Haas and his investments and new monies for his F1 team. Do you think behind closed doors he is upset at the attention the Andrettis have been getting about the “American” F1 team? Is this motivation for him to prove his team is successful American F1 team?
David Tucker
CM: I’ll admit I haven’t spoken directly to Gene for a little while, but I never got that impression. He’s a shrewd businessman — extremely careful with his money, actually — and so wouldn’t give Haas more funding if he felt it was not being used properly. That’s one of the reasons for the team principal change this year, because he felt the team was underperforming based on what he was putting in.
Ayao Komatsu was promised there would be money made available if he could prove the team was making better use of what it already had, and those signs were there early on in the year, so he’s been willing to back it up further.
Haas did lean into being the American team a little bit more a year ago when the first Andretti Global developments were making headlines, but it was always the international nature of the sport that appealed more to Gene, because he wanted to sell Haas CNC machine tools globally.