Mario Andretti makes "bigger than Ferrari" claim as son tries to strike Red Bull deal

Mario Andretti declared the brand new headquarters for Andretti Global will be "bigger than Ferrari's".

Andretti Autosport is on a mission to expand in the motorsport world. The team already runs cars in series including IndyCar, Formula E and Supercars in Australia, and next on the list is a berth in Formula 1.

The team owned by former F1 champion Mario's son Michael, himself a former driver, continues to work hard to achieve that goal despite setback. Andretti has faced resistance from some in the sport, most notably Mercedes chief Toto Wolff and, last year, saw their bid to buy into the Sauber team - currently racing as Alfa Romeo - collapse.

Attention has turned instead to creating a whole new team, which would make the total on the grid 11, with a target entry date of 2024. And the massive new £166m facility under construction in Fishers, Indiana, is scheduled to be opened a year later.

Speaking to the Indianapolis Star, Andretti Snr boasted that it will be larger than the iconic Maranello base in Italy which Ferrari call home. "This isn't about IndyCar. With this, we want to do something that's never been done before," he said.

"We want to be in all forms of auto racing, from Le Mans to Monaco to the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500. And eventually in the future, we want it all to be under one roof. That's our big goal and we've got a lot of plans in the works to get there."

Michael Andretti wants to launch his own F1 team as soon as in 2024 (Getty Images)

When exploring the options for an F1 entry, Michael Andretti did begin contact with Red Bull over the prospect of buying the sister team AlphaTauri. But, as he explained to the Indy Star, he was quickly told that pursuing such a deal would be a pointless exercise.

"No, they're not interested," he said. "But we're working every day [to get clearance from the FIA to form their own team]. I'm still confident. We're getting close. We haven't got the 'okay' yet, but we're getting really close."

Red Bull may not want to sell AlphaTauri but, according to long-serving adviser Helmut Marko, there may be some changes made after a poor 2022 season. The Austrian said : "Everyone agrees that it wouldn't make sense to rebuild a successful package like Red Bull Racing. Where there is a need is AlphaTauri. This was not satisfactory in the past year."