Andretti has announced it has formally opened a brand new F1 facility in Silverstone, with a 48,000 square foot building set to house its UK operations going forward, in what is a significant step towards its place on the F1 grid that’s been so far rejected by the Formula One Management Group (FOM).
Despite having its entry approved by the FIA in October of last year, they got rejected by FOM last January, on the basis of them not being competitive enough or bringing enough value to the sport overall.
But the American squad has kept on going with its preparations to join the F1 grid, with the latest development being the launch of new facility at Silverstone – where most of the F1 teams are currently based – in order to accommodate some of its manufacturing and design processes along with its base in Indiana and North Carolina, both in the United States.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the team revealed that the new building will house “manufacturing facilities, including pattern, model and machine shops, ADM, electronics, R&D and additional office and meeting facilities,” but it maintains that the Indiana site will still be its “principal” base in the F1 project.
“We have said that our work continues at pace – this new facility embodies that work. While we are building an American works team, having a European base is a great way to attract the best in F1 talent and install state-of-the-art machinery,” the statement read.
In a video shared in its social media channels, team owner Michael Andretti stressed the need to build a base in England due to the potential of recruitment of the “brain power” that’s available regarding Formula 1in the UK in order to further strengthen and support their operations Stateside:
“Finally getting over here to meet everybody that’s been putting a lot of hard work in the F1 project. Very exciting. We have a new building that we’re going to be opening up and we’re going full bore at it.
“It’s very important to have a presence here because this is where a lot of the brain power for building Formula 1 cars are here in England,” said Andretti. “So it was very important for us to set up a base here to support our effort back in Indianapolis.
“The next step is to keep going and keep building the team. We’ve got a lot of work to do yet. We already have a lot of great talent but I think there’s a lot more great talent out there that we’re hopefully going to be able to recruit.”
1978 Formula 1 world champion Mario Andretti also expressed his thoughts on the new building, saying the team has already “outgrown” its older facilities and is “proud” about the prospect of having an HQ at the “heart” of F1 operations in Silverstone:
“This is where it’s happening in Formula 1,” he said. “The majority of the work, preparation and everything else from all the Formula 1 teams is happening right from here. So it’s the heart of it and you have to be proud of that. The new facility is in place really because we’ve outgrown the old one.”
