Q: Forgive me if this has been asked before. Making a few assumptions here: 1) Andretti Global will be allowed to compete in the 2025 F1 season. 2) Their top pick for a promised American driver, Colton Herta, will not gather enough Super License points in the 2024 IndyCar season to be able to go to F1.
Who do you feel is Andretti’s most likely pick for an American driver?
A) Josef Newgarden — 29 wins but is considered an oval expert and also would be 34 years old at the start of the 2025 season.
B) Alexander Rossi — 8 wins, already competed in F1, but again would be 33 by start of season, also has complicated history with Andretti, though all his wins are with them.
C) Pato O’Ward — he is North American after all 🙂
D) Someone I’m not thinking of?
Nick, Wendell, MA
CM: Great question, Nick, because I wouldn’t say the answer is obvious. Pato is the best fit of that selection given his more recent testing time, but obviously a deal would need to be done with McLaren. The same goes for Alexander, and obviously Josef would be hard to get from Penske. Plus, Michael Andretti has said he wants an American driver alongside an experienced F1 driver, so I get the impression they might have someone younger than Josef in mind (although he would be a very good candidate).
Now, obviously he’d need a championship-contending season, but I think Kyle Kirkwood also fits the bill for Andretti. I believe the way the Super License points will fall, his Indy Lights championship would give him 15 points but he’d need to finish top two to get to the magic 40 points, and if he did achieve that then he’d certainly put himself in the frame. Big IF, I know.
Q: Chris Medland recently wrote an article about how Logan Sargeant believes support will come from U.S. fans as he continues to develop. I can’t speak for all U.S. fans, but like Rossi before him, I don’t identify with him at all. I would be a bigger fan of Alex Palou or Pato O’Ward in F1 than of Sargeant. I don’t have any attachment to anyone from the Euro ladder series, so having him get to F1… he might as well not be from the U.S.
It might be different if he was on a stronger team. It’s hard to get excited about someone I’d only really ever heard of before he got to F1 because he’s American who isn’t in a position to compete for the podium. I wonder if Liberty understands this at all? If they want to generate patriotism for someone in the series, it’s going to come from Michael Andretti.
On to my question: When do you think we will know if Andretti gets in or not?
Ryan, West Michigan
CM: Sadly I can’t give much of an update on the Andretti front other than that it won’t be before the new year. Sounds dramatic, but obviously there’s only a few weeks left and Stefano Domenicali told me on air on SiriusXM in Abu Dhabi that there was no rush and F1 will take its time looking at all the factors involved.
It very much feels like there won’t be news in early January either, with some in the Andretti camp fearing it will be a drawn-out process until the next Concorde Agreement is in place, and that could take many months.
Q: My question is about teams and what guarantees they have that they can stay on the grid year after year, and whether IndyCar or F1 can remove a team? I’m a life-long Andretti fan and really want to see Andretti/Cadillac in Formula 1. The most frustrating part of this is hearing a team like Haas constantly ask what benefit Andretti would bring. I would ask, what benefit Haas has brought? No wins, no podiums, constant sponsorship drama, and maybe the worst driver pairing in Formula 1 history with Schumacher and Mazepin, meanwhile never once considering an IndyCar driver for their lineup.
Other than a few amusing soundbites from Guenther Steiner, what does Haas bring? If 10 teams are the limit, wouldn’t F1 be better off to drop Haas from the grid and replace it with Andretti/Cadillac? Andretti is one of the most famous names in racing history, will excite the American fan base, and also bring one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world as a new engine builder. If I were in charge of Formula 1 and 10 teams was my limit, I would just replace Haas with Andretti.
Steve, Moline, IL
CM: It’s all tied in with the Concorde Agreement. Teams are granted an entry by the FIA and have to pay their entry fee to be able to race — something that only teams the FIA has approved can do — but nobody would realistically do that without a commercial agreement with Formula One Management (FOM). As the current agreement runs until the end of 2025, that’s all the current teams tied in until then.
In terms of guarantees, as far as I’m aware there technically are none, but it’s not as simple as not continuing with one team as all of the teams reach an agreement for the Concorde as a collective, rather than individually. Plus, it would be hugely damaging to kick out an existing team, even to replace it with a strong offering. That would then lead to a lack of confidence in FOM from any of the other teams, and would likely see the whole thing fall apart if you can’t trust that your existing entry is not secure (assuming you don’t break any terms).
Q: I am tired of people beating down on Logan Sargeant, saying he doesn’t deserve a second year with Williams. Just as a reminder, Niki Lauda only scored two points in his first two years in F1, and was beaten 12 points to 0 in his first year at March by Ronnie Peterson, who was only in his second year in F1. Niki was even beaten by Clay Regazzoni in their first year together at Ferrari. Despite a slow start to his time in F1, he went on to win three world championships, so let’s give Sargeant a break. I am not saying he will be a world champion, but let’s see how he progresses in 2024.
Do you think drivers need time to develop or should this “one year, be a star or you are out” continue?
Mark B. Floral City, FL
CM: I’m very much with you, Mark. Not that I think Logan has set the world alight this year or shown too much to suggest he will go on and achieve great things, but as you say there are examples of other drivers who have taken time to deliver big results. And it’s not like there’s loads of testing time available these days, so drivers have to learn extremely quickly during a relentless schedule.
More notably for me, a number of extremely good drivers have struggled as soon as they’ve reached F1, and then haven’t been given the time to find their feet. Think of Stoffel Vandoorne, for example, and how good he looked in junior categories but didn’t get the right F1 environment. And in the case of someone like Sargeant, he was fast-tracked when two years in F2 might have prepared him better to succeed in his rookie F1 season.
If there is an incredible talent smashing down the door to get a chance, then I can understand making a straight choice between that and a rookie who hasn’t made a compelling argument. But without that, I definitely think more time is needed rather than just cutting a driver early.