Michael Andretti has been on a mission to get his eponymous team on the Formula 1 grid since before the FIA opened the tender process for new entries in February 2023.
Despite being the only application accepted by the governing body, Formula One Management ultimately rejected the outfit after a commercial agreement could not be reached with F1’s owners, Liberty Media. The door was, however, left afar for a potential union in 2028, the year in which its alliance with Cadillac would yield a power unit, introducing a new OEM into the field.
But changing his stance following the conclusion of the process, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated that Andretti should “go and buy another team” rather than expanding the grid as an 11th team.
Speaking to James Allen on the JA on F1 Podcast, Steiner offered the same advice.
“Buy a team,” he said, before conceding, “but I don't think there is a team out there to be bought. You know, that's the dilemma.
“To do everything yourself is so difficult and, obviously, when you're working there, I say it's possible, but actually, I'm not saying nothing is impossible, you know, I give credit to everybody who tries but I always try to go the way with the best chance to succeed. And I think that will be to buy a team.”
Should Andretti join the grid in 2028, this would come two years after the introduction of a significantly changed set of technical regulations, with considerable power unit and aerodynamic changes set to be introduced in 2026.
While the FIA are open to making changes to the rules before locking them into place, Steiner said of the regulations: “Development in F1 never stands still technology-wise. The percentage of electric power is higher so the cars had to change to adapt to that, to the power unit. And I think the cars got very heavy. We should try to get them lighter because they need to be nimble, but it's difficult.
“The biggest thing is batteries. They just weigh. I mean, you can't do anything about it, not yet. Maybe in the future, I mean, F1 always develops stuff pretty quickly.
“So I think in general, it's good that the cars are getting a little bit smaller because they're really big.”
