Mario Andretti: None of the current F1 teams are for sale

Dr Helmut Marko supports the widespread view among Formula 1’s current teams regarding a bid by Andretti-Cadillac to enter the sport in 2025.

Although the FIA has now instigated a formal process to consider expanding the grid from 10 to up to 12 teams, F1 itself - and the existing teams - are worried about a dilution of income and prestige.

McLaren supremo Zak Brown revealed this week that at the forthcoming meeting of the F1 Commission, a proposal to raise the new-team entry fee from its current $200 million will be discussed.

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team boss, says the easiest way for the Andretti bid to end the controversy is simply by buy an existing team.

He told the Daily Mail he has "nothing against Andretti and Cadillac", but allowing an 11th entry onto the grid is simply a matter of "who is actually going to pay for it".

"Red Bull was Jaguar, which was Stewart-Ford," Horner said. "Look at Mercedes, who go all the way back through Honda to BAR to Tyrrell. Aston Martin to Jordan. That has been the procedure for many years."

Marko, a fellow top official at Red Bull, told Sport1: "There is nothing to add to Christian’s statements.

"A financial basis must always be secured."

However, Andretti - led by former McLaren driver Michael but supported by 1978 world champion Mario - actually tried and failed to buy Alfa Romeo-Sauber in 2021.

"It basically came down to control issues in the final hours of the negotiations," Michael Andretti explained at the time. "That’s what killed the deal."

Audi ultimately swept in with a Sauber buyout deal, which is already 25 percent complete - and tipped to rise to as much as 75 percent by 2025.

"The fact is that none of the current teams are for sale," Michael’s father Mario Andretti said this week.

"Michael and his team have already looked at that scenario extensively and nothing is available."