Formula 1: Michael Andretti looking to purchase Force India?

There has been more Formula 1 speculation regarding Andretti Autosport, and it does not pertain to McLaren. Could Michael Andretti purchase Force India?

Ever since the team owner of the Andretti Autosport IndyCar team, Michael Andretti, skipped the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas last Saturday night to attend the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Sunday, there has been a lot of speculation.

Much of this speculation revolved around the fact that Andretti met with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who drove in the Indianapolis 500 for the team when they partnered with McLaren last year, ending McLaren’s 38-year absence from the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

There had already been speculation that Alonso would return to the Indy 500 next year, and there had also already been speculation that he will leave Formula 1 for IndyCar full-time next season. In fact, many people believe that McLaren will partner with an IndyCar team, possibly Andretti Autosport, to field an entry for the 36-year-old Spaniard in 2019.

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This speculation certainly still exists. In fact, at this point, it seems to be likely that Alonso will drive full-time in IndyCar for McLaren next season. However, while Andretti’s visit to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve did a lot to heat up this speculation, this visit may have been about more than just discussions with and about Alonso.

Could Andretti be looking to purchase Sahara Force India?

Force India have finished in fourth place in the constructor standings as the “best of the rest” behind Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in both of the last two seasons. However, they currently sit in sixth in the standings and are just nine points ahead of the two teams, Haas and Scuderia Toro Rosso, that are tied for seventh.

Force India CEO Otmar Szafnauer admitted that the team have been having money problems so far this season, and that has had a lot to do with the fact that they have had arguably their worst start to a season since they had in the 2009 season, which was only their second season in the sport.

Here is what Szafnauer had to say about the matter, according to Reuters.

"“It’s no secret we asked for a bit of money up front (from F1 owners Liberty Media) so that gets us through the winter. 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 cashflow. But now we’re past the winter months it should be easier for us.”"

Here is some of what veteran motorsports reporter Joe Saward had to say about Andretti’s visit to the Canadian Grand Prix, according to his MotorsportWeek.com blog.

"“It was clear that this [Alonso] was not Michael’s only purpose for being in Montreal, as 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.“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."

Saward then went into more detail about the current situation of Force India, which was slightly touched on in Szafnauer’s quote above.

"“It seems, from multiple sources, that a financial solution is required VERY quickly if Force India is going to avoid getting into financial and legal trouble. Current owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy do not have cash available to pay for Formula 1.“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. [Force India] is a great opportunity as there is a competitive turnkey F1 operation, which would simply require a bit of rebranding.”"

You can read more of what Saward had to say about the matter here, which includes his uncertainty as to whether or not Andretti would actually “jump in”.

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Right now, Haas are the only American Formula 1 team, so Michael Andretti purchasing Force India would double the current total of American teams in the sport. Haas are currently competing in their third season in the sport. Will Andretti end up doing so, thus giving Formula 1 their second American team in the 2019 season?

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