Alpine: 'Provisional contract with Andretti has expired'

Andretti's possible arrival in Formula 1 has caused a lot of controversy. There are also still many uncertainties about the US team. For now, Cadillac is mainly a title sponsor, like Aston Martin used to be for Red Bull Racing, the F1 team of world champion Max Verstappen.

Andretti must either build their own engine or buy engines off the shelf from existing teams, just as Williams runs Mercedes power units and Haas runs Ferrari. If no deal can be made, the FIA will tell the supplier with the least amount of customers to give them engines. In the current case, it's Alpine (Renault). Earlier, it had been revealed that there had been talks between the French and the Americans. But now it appears that Andretti was already surprisingly far along, Andretti had even reached a preliminary agreement with Alpine for the supply of engines and possible other parts. But: that provisional agreement has since expired. The deal would only become final if Andretti was granted access to Formula 1 by a certain date. That did not happen, and thus the provisional agreement lapsed.

Consequently, according to Bruno Famin, Alpine's interim team boss, there is currently no longer any contract with the Americans: "We had a provisional contract with Andretti, but it expired because they had to gain access to Formula 1 by a certain date." Famin added: "That means that if we want to do something with Andretti now, we have to negotiate a full contract, a formal contract. So at the moment we have absolutely no contract with Andretti."

Alpine is not completely throwing the door shut, however. After all, Andretti's application to join Formula 1 has been approved by the FIA, but not the FOM, and that seems to be Alpine's concern at the moment. Famin: "Everyone knows what the situation is.We need a decision from Formula 1 before we resume cooperation with Andretti." So Andretti will have to wait a little longer. If the FOM agrees to Andretti joining, negotiations with Alpine could therefore restart. Whether that agreement will materialise, however, is highly uncertain.