Rumors
First names of Andretti-Cadillac technical chiefs emerge
- GPblog.com
Andretti-Cadillac has cleared an important hurdle on its way to admission to the F1 grid as the 11th team. Michael Andretti's possible upcoming F1 team also seems to have already occupied a significant part of the technical management. A few names are emerging.
Of all the applications, the FIA has only approved Andretti's application to move on to the next phase of the process of participation in Formula 1 from 2026. This marks an important step, but it is far from certain whether the eleventh team will actually be there. The aspiring team also still has to pass the balloting of the FOM and the existing F1 teams. Still, it is conceivable that Andretti will be on the grid. And the Andretti family is proceeding with that in mind.
Andretti is still in the starting blocks
Before the FIA application round opened, Michael Andretti was already busy setting up the team. It expressed hopes of competing in the championship as early as 2024, joined forces with US partner Cadillac and struck a conditional engine deal with Alpine. The long wait caused the aspiring team stress, as Andretti stood by to start building the F1 car as soon as possible.
As long as confirmation was lacking, the team could not start full preparation, but at the same time, the team had to be ready to respond to any green light as soon as possible. The light is still not green, but it is conceivable that Andretti is still fully prepared in the starting blocks. The fact that F1 technical analyst Craig Scarborough lists names that will form the technical management at Andretti on X is therefore not surprising.
'Andretti pulls together heap of F1 experience with these front men'
These are the possible technical frontrunners at the team, some of whom, incidentally, have appeared in the news before. According to Scarborough, they are Nick Chester, John McQuilliam and Jon Tomlinson, who have been lined up at Andretti's Formula E UK headquarters in Banbury for almost a year. The three names are not the smallest and the technicians are acquaintances in Formula 1.
Chester is mentioned as a possible technical director at Andretti. The Briton is a former Renault engineer and worked at Mercedes' Formula E team. McQuilliam is named as chief designer. He was a car designer at Williams in the 1980s and worked at Arrows and Jordan, among others. The last name, Tomlinson, is named as head of aerodynamics. Tomlinson previously worked at Jordan, Renault and Williams.