IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti could be considering a takeover of the embattled Force India outfit, according to a veteran of the Formula 1 paddock Joe Saward.
As owner Vijay Mallya faces legal trouble at home and his financial situation worsens, the Silverstone-based team has been linked with a buyout for much of the year, with British energy drinks company Rich Energy named as a possible suitor.
But, while many saw his time in the McLaren garage with Fernando Alonso at the Canadian GP as a sign the Spaniard might be heading full-time to the States in 2019, in his blog on Motorsport Week, Saward revealed Andretti’s purpose of visit may have been as much about adding F1 to his racing portfolio.
“He was accompanied by his company president J-F Thormann and the familiar figure of Pieter Rossi, father of Andretti driver, Indy 500 winner and sometimes F1 driver, Alexander Rossi,” he commented.
“You wouldn’t need the other two to get a deal with Alonso to race an Andretti-run, McLaren-badged Indycar, so it was obvious that they were also up to other things.
“Visits to Liberty Media and Force India suggested that they were there to sniff around and see if a deal could be put together to acquire the troubled team.”
After finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship the past two years, 2018 has been more of a struggle with the ‘pink panthers’ not featuring in the top 10 anything like as much as they were last season.
Their car was also the last to be launched, doing so on the morning of the first test in Barcelona and now COO Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the potential reason for why Force India has slipped back.
“It’s no secret we asked for a bit of money up front (from Liberty Media) so that gets us through the winter,” he said.
“This year, that money wasn’t forthcoming because I think some of the teams said ‘You can’t do that’ and blocked it. So that… put a bit of a financial strain on us over the winter, if you don’t have the cash flow.
“But now we’re past the winter months it should be easier for us.”
As for the possibility of an Andretti buyout, nothing has yet been said publicly, but Saward does think it could bring a lot of value to F1 should it happen.
“Having an Andretti team in F1 would be a terrific thing as the World Championship seeks to make a bigger impression in the United States,” he said.
“[Force India] is a great opportunity as there is a competitive turnkey F1 operation, which would simply require a bit of rebranding.”