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Michael Andretti, the son of 1978 F1 champion and legendary driver Mario, is plotting an entry into Formula 1 after failing in his bid to buy the American Haas team.

Andretti Global would become the 11th team on the grid with IndyCar star Colton Herta likely to make the jump to F1 if the plan comes together. Renault is the leading option for an engine partner, with Mario claiming a deal has been secured already.

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Andretti told Motorsport.com he needs an answer within a month in order to get the team up and running for the 2024 season.

“To me it’s a no-brainer. I don’t know what the holdup is, so hopefully they figure it out,” Andretti said.

“The way we’re going to do it is going to be first class all the way. We’ve got big plans that will really be good for Formula 1.

“My backers are great, they’re in it to be competitive, they’re not just in it to say they’re in Formula 1. They’re sports guys, they’ve turned sports franchises around from where they weren’t competitive to then being competitive, so they know how to do this stuff.”

He added: “Eventually we’d like to build it (the car) here.

“The first car would have to be farmed out, sort of like the way Haas does it now. And then eventually build our own car.

“My dream is to do it here, to have a true American car. We’d still have a big presence in the UK, but have the actual building of it here.”

But the global reach and strong backing of the team, which includes cars in IndyCar, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, Formula E and a large stake in Supercars team Walkinshaw Andretti United – which won the Bathurst 1000 last year – has “the establishment” worried according to Will Buxton.

“Speaking to a lot of folks in the IndyCar paddock this weekend. The Andretti F1 project is serious. Very serious,” he tweeted.

“They could pay the ($200 million) entry fee as chump change. And in a non budget capped era have funding to make the top 3 wince. No wonder the establishment are worried.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has suggested the true cost of creating an F1 team would be close to $1 billion.

“We feel like we’re going to bring a lot more to the party in terms of income to the bottom line,” Andretti said in response.

“I believe what we could do for the US, it’s still very untapped and I think there’s a lot to be gained here.

“And I think having a true American team and driver, not a Russian driver, we can at least bring more than $100m to the bottom line, which is all we’d ever take out of the prize money.”

Under F1 rules 26 cars (and thus 13 teams) can be allowed on the grid.

F1 has had 10 teams since the mid-2010s, with the introduction of Haas compensating for the withdrawal of Manor (previously Marussia and Virgin), Caterham (previously Lotus) and HRT, with whom there was a 12-team grid through the early 2010s.

While those three outfits were backmarkers during their stints in the sport, they gave opportunities to future race-winners Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon, among others.

Andretti said his team would be committed to building a pathway for American drivers to reach F1, which is surging in popularity in the US due to Netflix’s Drive to Survive.

Originally published as ‘Chump change’: F1 giants ‘worried’ about US outfit’s $1 billion plan to join grid by 2024

The Australian was stood down in the wake of his mid-race decision at December’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which helped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pip Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton to the world title.

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After much speculation, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, concluded Masi had not applied the rules properly in a late safety car period of the race, and have now introduced a new VAR supported structure for next season.

Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, feels Masi has been treated unfairly.

“It’s a difficult one, and it’s the FIA’s business,” he told talkSPORT.

“I think it is harsh, I think he was in a very difficult position last year.

“We felt a lot of the decisions went against us last year.

“When you look at what he has at his disposal in terms of resource, compared to what the teams have, it’s such a massive difference.

“It’s good to hear they are bringing in things like the VAR equivalent and one of the most experienced guys in Herbie Blash.

“I just think there was so much pressure put on the removal of Michael and that’s not right. That’s my personal feeling.

“It’s a bit of a smokescreen as when you look back at the race, Mercedes had two opportunities to pit.”

Despite the chaotic conclusion to the season, Horner thinks Verstappen was a deserving champion for his performances over the whole season.

He added: “You have to look at the season over the 22 races. We had a lot of decisions go against us earlier in the year and penalties that weren’t awarded and so on.

“We got a little bit lucky at the end and sometimes that happens in sport, it’s not over until the whistle goes or the flag falls.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was repurposed with permission.

The Alpine Racing driver was cruelly close to just the second podium of his Formula 1 career when Valtteri Bottas caught him on the final straight to give Mercedes two drivers on the podium in a race that had everything.

Replays showed how agonisingly close it was for Ocon.

His team radio call echoed that anguish.

He appeared to blame himself for his slow exit from the final turn.

“No, for f*** sake,” he said to his team after watching Bottas sneak by.

“Joke, f***. There was straight-line speed at the end there. For f*** sake, missed by not much.

“Yeah sorry guys, sorry for that.”

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Anger had turned to sorrow by the time he arrived for his media commitments.

When speaking with Sky Sports reporter Natalie Pinkham, Ocon started the interview by saying: “Don’t push me, I’m going to cry. Don’t push me, I’m going to cry, Natalie,” he said with a distraught grin.

“We gave it everything we could today. We took all the right choices, the car was spot on. It was mega to drive.

“We held that third place for a very long time until 5m before the end. 5m is probably what cost us the podium. It’s hard to swallow. The competitor in me is frustrated and very sad. But if you told me (at the start of the day) we would have finished fourth, I would have been happy.”

The official timesheets confirmed he was just 0.1 second behind Bottas as they crossed the line.

Bottas’ run has given Mercedes a 28 point lead in the constructor’s championship heading into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning (AEDT).

The 32-year-old has been around the F1 for a long time now and continues to be one of the biggest personalities on the grid.

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But while Ricciardo has been a championship contender, finishing third in both 2014 and 2016 while driving for Red Bull, he has never quite gotten over the hump to truly push to be world champion.

And since leaving Red Bull at the end of the 2019 season, Ricciardo has been trapped in the midfield with Renault and now McLaren.

In his first season with McLaren, Ricciardo has at times struggled to handle his new car, although he did claim the eighth win of his F1 career at Monza.

Ricciardo’s exit from Red Bull has often been linked to the rise of Max Verstappen as the team appeared to prioritise the young Dutchman in a bid to make him the youngest F1 champion in history — an honour he now can’t achieve as he is 24 — as Ricciardo suffered eight retirement in his final season at the team.

Since separating at the end of 2018, Ricciardo and Verstappen have become great friends, challenging Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in the bromance stakes.

But despite not landing the same results Verstappen and sitting 246.5 points behind the Dutchman on the driver standings, Ricciardo is of no doubt who the better driver is.

“Until the day I stop … I’ll always believe I’m the best. I think the day I stop will be the day that I no longer believe I’m the best driver,” Ricciardo joked in an interview with RacingNews365.

“Is Max the second best? Probably! Probably!”

More seriously, Ricciardo believes Verstappen will one day claim the world championship, whether this season or in the future.

Verstappen is currently just eight points ahead of a resurgent Lewis Hamilton in the closest battle for the championship in years.

Ahead of the penultimate Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, a Hamilton first and fastest lap ahead of a second placed Verstappen would see the pair go into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on equal points.

“If it’s not this year, I think it’s inevitable that he wins a world title,” Ricciardo said. “Not to say that it’s an easy thing to achieve, but I think he has all the traits to do it.

“Also his racecraft is good, I like that he goes for gaps. I see a lot of similarities in the way he goes about racing, so that I can certainly respect.”

Ricciardo also praised Verstappen’s “lack of fear” and said it was much better to get along now they’re on opposing teams.

“As a person, I really like Max. For sure, it’s been probably easier to get on with each other post-teammates, because we don’t have that head-to-head, as you’d call it,” Ricciardo said.

“But I think also he’s matured, you know, so I like the way he goes about his business as well. We are quite different, but I think he’s very true to his word, (there’s) not much bulls*** that goes on. I definitely like him and respect him for that.

“As a driver, look, I remember his very first practice session in Barcelona, when he got into Red Bull, and he was on it straight away. I remember seeing the data and I was like, ‘OK, he’s not messing around’.

“I think he has that speed, that raw speed, that lack of fear. Now he’s got that maturity to really make him a top, top, top tier (driver).”

And despite all the talk of Verstappen getting favourable treatment when the pair teamed up at Red Bull, Ricciardo denied there was a schism in the team.

He pointed to on-track incidents, including the infamous 2018 Baku crash, as signs of how hard they fought it out on the track. But he added that it was “never hostile” in debriefs and “there weren’t any kind of secrets”.

He also said it was equal equipment, although conceding “I didn’t feel was equal in some situations – Baku being the biggest one”.

Ricciardo was blamed for the crash that saw both men taken out of the race.

That’s the Daniel Ricciardo we see in the public eye. But what about the other side behind closed doors, especially when things aren’t rosy?

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As it turns out, the Australian’s competitive streak makes him a whole different person.

In fact, the 32-year-old transforms into a self-confessed “f****** psychopath” and has even injured himself when that competitive nature takes the wheel from his emotions.

Such a ruthless spirit when it comes to sport is critical in high-pressure environments, none more so than in F1.

But Ricciardo’s obsessive desire to win certainly did not begin when he entered the sport.

It came much, much earlier.

“As a kid, I was always a raw competitor in everything, whether it was table tennis or a game of Uno, I just hated losing,” Ricciardo told Autosport.

“And I think over the years and probably maturity, I’ve felt better with defeat.

“But I’m still in some ways a sore loser where I just f*****g hate it, you know?

“So when I flip or have those moments of rage, it’s when I believe I could have done it.

“The times when I was miles off, I wasn’t throwing chairs because it was more of a case of ‘hands up, I don’t know what to do’.

“But if it’s a situation where I’m a tenth off, but I know the tenth was on the table and I didn’t get it, that’s when it just eats me inside.”

The frustration of knowing a better result was attainable is something Ricciardo would take out on himself physically, but he’s become wiser in terms of venting his anger in better ways.

But no matter what, the scent of any competition transforms the Perth native into a different beast.

“I’m probably better at channelling that now and I’ve kind of injured myself breaking things in the past, so it’s not smart either,” Ricciardo said.

“Michael, my trainer, knows when I’m like this to kind of hug me and restrain me until I calm down!

“It’s funny because people probably wouldn’t expect that from me — I’m an easygoing, happy guy — but when there’s competition in place, I’m a bit of a f*****g psychopath I guess.”

Ricciardo will tap into that crazy side of himself for the penultimate time this year at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Monday morning, with lights out scheduled for 4:30am (AEDT).

The Red Bull star qualified second-fastest in Sunday morning’s qualifying session, behind reigning champion Lewis Hamilton.

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The FIA released a statement after the final qualifying session that Verstappen was being investigated for allegedly “not respecting double waved yellow flags”.

Verstappen could face a potentially decisive grid penalty if he is found to have broken the rules.

The Dutch driver secured his fastest time in his final lap at the end of the third qualifying session where double yellow flags could be seen as he turned onto pit straight.

TV replays showed yellow flags were waved to warn Verstappen that Pierre Gasly had stopped on track due to a tyre blowout.

In another bizarre day of FIA administrating, the stewards failed to reach a swift decision, inexcusably delaying the decision until the following day, The Sun’s Ben Hunt reported.

Verstappen is facing a potential five-place grid penalty — a precedent set for similar, more clear-cut cases of drivers ignoring double yellows.

Verstappen’s case is far from clear cut, however.

At different times of the TV replays Verstappen’s on-board camera showed the official FIA directive had not registered on his control screen. There are also suggestions a green flag could also be seen on the other side of the track — indicating it was safe for Verstappen to continue his lap without slowing down.

A five-place penalty would see Verstappen dropped to the fourth row of the grid.

Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz are also facing potential grid penalties.

Even more concerning for Verstappen is Hamilton’s Mercedes again showed absolute dominance in qualifying to finish almost half a second clear of the rest of the field.

His flying lap time of 1min 20.827 that clinched Qatar’s first ever pole position proved way beyond Verstappen, who was 0.455sec slower.

“That last lap was beautiful. It was a really sweet lap. This track is amazing to drive. Woo, it felt good!” he tweeted.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas posted the third quickest time under floodlights at the Losail circuit to fill the second row with Pierre Gasly for Alpha Tauri.

Mercedes were handed an unexpected potential advantage in their titanic title battle with Red Bull after Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez failed to make it to the Q3 top 10 shootout.

With the Mexican down in the sixth row on Sunday’s grid, Red Bull’s tactics to upset Mercedes rest on a one-man band named Verstappen.

Perez was not wrong when he ventured: “It’s going to be a very tricky race.”

That wasn’t the only shock in qualifying as Aussie Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also bombed out before Q3. Ricciardo will start 14th on the grid — well behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris in sixth — while Leclerc qualified 13th.

This was Hamilton’s 102nd career pole but his first since Hungary almost four months ago.

And compared to last weekend’s drama, when the 36-year-old Brit overcame a slew of penalties to finish fifth from the back of the grid in Saturday’s qualifying sprint, then win on Sunday from 10th, this was almost routine.

Given the flashpoint incident last weekend when Verstappen appeared to push Hamilton wide on his first attempt to overtake him, the start to the Qatar GP promises to be another pivotal moment in the razor-sharp rivalry between the pair which has made 2021 a season to remember.

With his Dutch arch-rival out to beat him to the first corner Hamilton said: “It is a decent run into Turn 1, which is wide so I will give it everything.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “We’ve got an opportunity down on the run to Turn 1 tomorrow.

“But that last lap of Lewis’ was phenomenally quick. Their straight line speed has come down a bit, it looks more similar to ours now which is good to see.

“Lewis made all his time in Turns 6 and 7. It was a very strong lap by Lewis.”

Qatar GP qualifying results: Top 10

1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

2) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

3) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

4) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri

5) Fernando Alonso, Alpine

6) Lando Norris, McLaren

7) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

8) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

9) Esteban Ocon, Alpine

10) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

Max Verstappen cruised to victory and extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings, while Lewis Hamilton finished second as Sergio Perez crossed the line third to ensure both Red Bull stars stood on the podium on Monday morning (AEST).

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Ricciardo was never in the hunt, finishing out of the points in a disappointing 12th.

The safety car was brought out as Ricciardo and Mercedes suffered major blows seconds after lights out. Verstappen, starting third on the grid behind Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, shot out of the gate and assumed the lead as carnage unfolded in his wake.

Ricciardo was seventh to begin with and tried to make his move up, soon finding himself side-by-side with Perez under braking. But then the West Australian clipped Bottas, who had slipped down the field after starting on pole.

As a result of contact with Ricciardo, Bottas spun out and sunk to P18 while the Aussie also suffered some unwanted damage. He wrecked his front wing and needed to head into the pits to have the issue sorted as he too dropped all the way down the field.

When the safety car departed and the race resumed, Ricciardo and Bottas were at the very back of the pack in 17th and 18th.

Ricciardo hadn’t seen a replay of the incident when interviewed on TV after the race but apologised to Bottas and explained what went wrong.

“There was definitely a lot going on,” Ricciardo said. “The first few hundred metres down to Turn One, to be honest they’re always fun here because there are so many slipstreams, it’s dusty, its kind of chaos but there is some form of fun in the chaos.

“I think there was room on the inside with Perez, so there was a gap. It was one of those ones, if you don’t go for a gap someone else will. You can easily just get swallowed up.

“At that time let’s say it was a reasonable bit of space to go for. From memory it felt fairly under control in the first part of braking and then as we got closer to the apex obviously everyone starts to close in.

“I locked a little bit then at that moment, Valtteri’s come across.

“I apologise to him, without really seeing it. But I’m the one that went into him so of course at the very least I’ll say sorry for now and see if there’s much I could have done or if it’s just simply a Turn One incident as a bottleneck kind of thing.”

Even though it looked like Ricciardo was in the wrong for nudging an unsuspecting Bottas, Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle said the 32-year-old “won’t face the music” with stewards because it was classified as a “racing incident”.

Sky F1 analyst Karun Chandhok said there was no love lost between Mercedes and Ricciardo as the Aussie avoided any official sanction.

“I have spoken to a couple of the Mercedes engineers and they are livid that Daniel didn’t end up with a penalty,” Chandhok said after the race.

BBC broadcaster Christian Hewgill tweeted: “If you’re Valtteri Bottas you feel a bit miffed that Daniel Ricciardo won’t be punished for punting him off at the start. I think people have been given penalties for less this season.”

Mercedes Esports driver Jarno Opmeer added: “How was Ricciardo not penalised for that lap one move?”

Brundle said Ricciardo and Bottas were so far behind the rest of the pack their race was already effectively over.

They moved up into 11th and 12th respectively but were still well behind the leaders as Verstappen and Perez led the way for Red Bull at the front of the field.

Verstappen was in clear air for much of the race as he led by as much as 17 seconds, well ahead of Hamilton, who was doing his best to hold off hometown hero Perez.

Bottas and Ricciardo were involved in a long-running duel — every time the Finn tried to get past his Aussie rival, the McLaren star did just enough to maintain his advantage.

Bottas managed to snag the fastest lap but will be devastated to have finished so far off the pace in 15th after qualifying fastest.

The Australian narrowly escaped disaster in the second qualifying session before he rebounded to out-pace teammate Lando Norris when it mattered.

Ricciardo finished qualifying P7, but has been promoted to P6 after Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was issued a five-place grid penalty for engine upgrades earlier this weekend.

Ricciardo was more than 0.9 seconds behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen, but will be satisfied with pipping Norris by 0.1 seconds.

Nearest rivals Ferrari will start ahead of the McLarens — with the two teams scrapping to finish third in the constructor’s championship.

“It was OK,” Ricciardo said of the session.

“We’re right there to battle them (Ferraris) tomorrow.”

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Verstappen, in a Red Bull, stormed to pole with the final lap of Q3, bumping championship rival Lewis Hamilton to second.

Verstappen, who has a six-point lead over Hamilton in the championship, claimed his ninth pole of the season with a time of 1min 32.910sec, two tenths faster than the British driver.

Sergio Perez, in the second Red Bull, was third fastest, just 0.15sec behind Hamilton.

Ricciardo was lucky to make it through to the final session after he finished the second session ninth quickest.

The 32-year-old had his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits.

“That can’t happen,” Sky Sports F1 guru Martin Brundle said of Ricciardo exceeding the Turn 9 limit by just 10cm.

The McLarens have struggled for pace this weekend and will have to chase down their rival Ferraris in Monday’s race.

Verstappen will be looking at them in his rearview mirrors on the starting grid.

“In Q3 my first lap wasn’t amazing but in the final lap it started drizzling in the final sector so I wasn’t sure if I could hold on to my lap time but it came together,” said Verstappen.

Hamilton said: “I gave it everything today – it was a bit of a struggle through qualifying.

“I think from P1 onwards we kind of fell back a little bit and the Red Bull guys were incredibly quick.

“I was happy with my last lap, of course there’s always areas we can improve but I think that was pretty much everything we had.

“We’ll just work as hard as we can tomorrow. My mindset is to win the race.”

In an indication of the intense pressure building in the title race, Verstappen had branded Hamilton a “stupid idiot” in Friday practice.

He was angered by the Mercedes man pushing past on the inside of his Red Bull when the Dutchman was lining up a flying lap.

United States Grand Prix qualifying results

1 — Max Verstappen

2 — Lewis Hamilton

3 — Sergio Perez

4 — Charles Leclerc

5 — Carlos Sainz

6 — Daniel Ricciardo

7 — Lando Norris

8 — Pierre Gasly

9 — Valtteri Bottas

10 — Yuki Tsunoda

Due to the sport’s relentless calendar, which features 22 races in 2021 alone, Ricciardo rarely gets an opportunity to return home, particularly during a global pandemic.

Since F1 made its long-awaited return in July 2020, the Perth native has spent countless days in hotel quarantine and strict biosecurity conditions.

And the gruelling calendar shows no signs of easing, with a record 23 races set to be announced in the 2022 season.

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Ricciardo therefore believes maintaining relationships with his McLaren team is not only essential for morale, but helps ease the pain of homesickness.

The Australian says he tends to feel particularly low during the competition’s “triple-headers”, when three races occur over three consecutive weekends.

“You have to be able to fall back on your teammates to help you when you’re feeling a little down or when you’re missing home,” he said, as reported by the Dutch arm of GPFans.

“We are often away from our family for a long time, especially during the ‘triple-headers’. So I think it’s important for the team when everyone has a close bond with each other.

“I know for myself how much I miss home and my family on race weekends. If you then have a number of close friendships within the team to fill that void, it works well.”

Ricciardo previously said the mid-season break was essential for him to replenish ahead of the second leg of the 2021 championship, and the 31-year-old proved that was the case by winning the Italian Grand Prix last month.

The eight-time Grand Prix winner is also eager to socialise with his McLaren team outside the F1 paddock once Covid-19 restrictions soften.

“A social life outside the paddock is also important during a race weekend,” Ricciardo said.

“That helps to relieve stress and homesickness and it also means that you get to know everyone better.

“I hope that the world opens up further, so that we can also do fun things with the team off the track. Socialising and the occasional dinner out.”

Ricciardo is currently eighth on F1 drivers’ standings with 95 points.

The F1 season resumes next weekend with the United States Grand Prix, which is scheduled to get underway on Monday, October 25 at 6am AEDT.

The seven-time world champion lost his grip at the top of the drivers’ standings after a late precautionary pit stop in Istanbul on Sunday night dropped him from third to finish in fifth place.

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Max Verstappen regained top spot in the title race with his second-place finish while Hamilton was adamant he should have stayed out and not pitted in the vain hope of finishing in third.

There were a series of angry messages played out over the airways, as the 36-year-old claimed his decision was the right one.

“Why did you give up that place?” Hamilton said over team radio after the pit stop. “We shouldn’t have come in. I told you!”

But after the dust settled and a debrief on the flight home with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, Hamilton took to social media to play-down the flashpoint and says he is not angry at his team.

He wrote on Instagram: “I’ve seen some of the press this morning which has made a bit too much of the incident in yesterday’s race of when to pit.

“It isn’t true to say I’m furious with my team.

“As a team we work hard to build the best strategy possible but as the race progresses you have to make split decisions there are so many factors constantly changing.

“Yesterday we took the risk to stay out hoping it would dry, it didn’t.

“I wanted to risk it and try and go to the end, but it was my call to stay out and it didn’t work.

“In the end we did pit and it was the safest thing to do.

“We live and we learn. We win and we lose as a team. Don’t ever expect me to be all polite and calm on the radio when I’m racing, we are all very passionate and in the heat of the moment that passion can come out, as it does for all drivers.

“My heart and spirit are out there on the track, it’s the fire in me that’s got me this far but any angst is quickly forgotten and we talked it through, already looking ahead to the next race.

“Today’s another day to rise and as a team (sic). Still we Rise.”

Speaking after the race, Wolff stood by the decision to bring Hamilton into the pits for a fresh set of intermediate tyres and explained the thinking behind Mercedes’ strategy.

“The intermediate obviously looked really scary, but we thought that we could maybe hang out there and finish third with not stopping,” Wolff told Sky Sports.

“So we balanced between pitting, taking it very conservative, fighting with (Charles) Leclerc and (Sergio) Perez on the track for P3, or taking a little bit of a gamble and either winning or finishing third.

“Then we saw Leclerc dropping off and Lewis started dropping off and it was clear that we wouldn’t make it to the end.

“It was clear that if we stayed out he would have lost against (Pierre) Gasly in any case.

“I think that he in the car still felt good, but he was one-and-a-half seconds off the pace and would have anyway lost the position.

“The correct call would have probably been taking it very conservative and pitting when everybody pitted for the intermediate, coming out behind Perez, probably behind Leclerc and then fighting with them on-track for P3.

“DNFing and losing all the points, that’s obviously catastrophic. We would have been caught up by Leclerc and Perez anyway if we had tried to stay out, so that wouldn’t have worked.”

This article first appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission