Andretti-Cadillac remains hopeful about joining the Formula 1 lineup by 2026.
Despite the lack of approval from Liberty Media, who insists that Andretti must wait until General Motors is ready with its engine in 2028 at the earliest, the FIA has shown solid support for the venture from day one.
Last week, Andretti Global, which is helmed by Michael Andretti and also competes in IndyCar and Formula E, unveiled a new facility at Silverstone dedicated in large part to their Formula 1 aspirations.
Mario Andretti, a former F1 champion and Michael's father, expressed to Sports Illustrated that they are still aiming for a 2026 launch.
"We're continuously working on it every day, regardless of what was represented to the press so far," the 1978 world champion declared.
"The FIA has put us through the ringer, if you will, for us to be able to check all the boxes and we have one more blessing that we need from the FOM. We're having a key meeting coming up and hopefully we have some positive results from that," added the 84-year-old Mario Andretti.
He mentioned that despite Liberty Media's refusal, their project has not slowed down, with a scale model currently being tested in a wind tunnel.
"Right now the objective is to be on the grid in 2026," Mario Andretti stated.
"There are so many key elements here to be defined once we have a total 'ok'. Because even very experienced individuals want to join us and we have to have a positive 'yes' that we're going to go before we obviously extend a contract.
"Once we get the 'ok', we don't start from scratch. We are already on our way."
Nonetheless, reports indicate that Liberty Media and the current F1 teams favor restricting the grid to just ten teams in the upcoming Concorde Agreement, as opposed to the present limit of twelve.
