Juan Pablo Montoya, a former McLaren F1 driver, predicts Michael Andretti’s attempt to enter the sport as the 11th team would fail. The legendary Colombian racer thinks the American team should try to buy an existing team rather than coming as a brand-new organization.

In order for Andretti to move up to the 11th team on the grid, they had to overcome enough opposition from other teams. The team and General Motors’ Cadillac brand formed a partnership to enter the single-seater racing category together at the beginning of the new year.

Andretti is opposed by the FIA and the sport. But he and his crew are confident that they have complied with all of its requirements.

Juan Pablo Montoya, a former driver for Williams and McLaren, thinks the team should adopt an Audi-like strategy and acquire an established team rather than entering on their own. The legendary Colombian F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya remarked to the French branch of Motorsport:

“Although I would love to see them on the grid. It is unlikely that will happen. Unless they are able to purchase someone else. I don’t anticipate a second team arriving. It’s unfortunate, but it’s challenging persuading everyone.”

F1 has continuously ignored the Andretti name

Although Mario Andretti has received some criticism from other teams over his team’s probable future in the sport, he still aspires to join F1. But this isn’t the first time the Andretti name has been disregarded in the sport.

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The 1986 F1 Canadian GP offered the American driver the opportunity to make his professional debut. Patrick Tambay’s severe collision during the warm-up practice necessitated a replacement for the American Haas team (unrelated to the one on the grid today).

Michael Andretti, the son of Mario Andretti, who had won the Formula Super Vee and Formula Mondial championships, was the ideal candidate for the job. The driver could easily succeed Tambay in Canada at the time since he was competing in the highly regarded CART series.

Andretti was not granted a super license, which is required to compete in the sport, by F1’s previous regulatory body, the FISA. While the FIA now uses a points-based system to determine who gets a super license, things were far less formal in the past.

As a result, Allen Berg, a less skilled Canadian driver, took Tambay’s spot that weekend, breaking Mario Andretti’s son’s heart.

Michael Andretti had to wait a further seven years before making his McLaren debut. By that point, the driver had won several further CART races and even managed to claim the championship in 1991. Whether the Andretti name will be associated with the sport in 2026 is still up in the air.

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