Andretti hand-pick key personnel from Renault and Mercedes despite FOM not giving green light for their F1 debut

John McQuilliam, who has previously worked for Williams, Arrows, Jordan, Manor, and Spyker, is now the Chief Designer for Andretti-Cadillac’s F1 expedition. Thus, speaking on putting together the team that should win the races once they debut in F1, Technical Director Nick Chester sounded quite hopeful.

It’s a team that wants to do it properly and wants to win. You don’t want to be anywhere that doesn’t have that ethos. As I started talking before I joined, the resource behind it, the effort that was going to go behind it to make it win, just made it very, very attractive. Chester spoke with The Athletic.

Andretti-Cadillac reveals photos of their wind tunnel model

Andretti-Cadillac has been working non-stop to ensure a massive Formula 1 debut even though they do not have the green light for it yet. The team has reportedly employed about 120 people who are pulling paychecks for making an F1 car that is not yet confirmed to be cleared for racing. Still, the team has shown a photo of their 60-percent-scale model undergoing testing at Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne.

Of the 120 people currently employed under Andretti’s Formula 1 project, about 50 have come from General Motors. GM is the new partner of the team who joined forces with them in 2023. The brand is being represented by Cadillac, and thus it can be said that Andretti-Cadillac will be the name of the new team that might debut in F1 as early as 2025.

In other news, Andretti has also talked about hiring at least one American driver in their F1 team once they start their operations in the pinnacle of motorsports. And certainly, Colton Herta, one of Andretti’s IndyCar drivers who missed out on an F1 seat for the lack of a super license, will be a frontrunner for the seat once the opportunity comes up.