Renault open to kick-starting Andretti F1 talks

Jan.19 (GMM) Renault is not ruling out resuming talks with Andretti about helping the hopeful Formula 1 entrant get up and running in Formula 1.

Last October, amid rising pressure from Liberty Media and the ten existing teams, Andretti’s hopes of joining the grid dwindled as an early customer engine deal with Renault and Alpine “expired”.

“It (the contract) was completely dependent on whether they could get entry into Formula 1, and they didn’t get that at the time,” Alpine interim boss Bruno Famin said at the time.

However, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem insisted that Renault doesn’t have the power to leave Andretti without an engine thanks to rules obliging engine manufacturers to supply customer teams if required.

“It will probably be Alpine or Honda because that’s just the rules,” the FIA boss added.

Andretti’s hopes then got a further boost in November, when partner General Motors officially registered as a full F1 engine supplier for 2028 – with the Cadillac brand.

That would only leave Andretti needing a customer engine until then.

Alpine’s Famin is now quoted as saying by Speed week: “We spoke to Andretti and General Motors and if they get started, we’ll be happy to resume the discussions.

“At the moment everything is on hold because everything took a little longer than originally expected and that preliminary agreement expired.

“But we would be happy to sit down at the table with Andretti to find a common solution,” Famin added.