Racing’s governing body, the FIA, approved Andretti’s F1 application last year, but the bid also needs the agreement of Formula One Management, which holds the commercial rights to the sport. This final stage appears to have stalled in the face of opposition from some existing teams who believe the $200m (£158m) entry fee is too cheap.
Andretti has not paused its plans, however. Szafnauer believes it’s the right approach given that time is key in any new F1 project – something Alpine failed to heed during his tenure there.
“Something I do know, from the early days at BAR, is that you cannot start from scratch and hire 900 people and expect to get that done in a year,” he says. “There aren’t going to be enough good people whose contracts are expiring. It’s just not possible.
“This may sound egotistical but I believe I was doing a good job at Alpine and that I was making the right changes. I have seen new team leaders make changes for the sake of change, they want to show the owners that they are doing something, making changes for the better.
“The problem is they often don’t understand the changes they’re making. When you walk into a situation like Alpine you first have to get a deep understanding of what you have, what’s good, and what needs changing, but you cannot do that overnight.
Team boss and chief execs failed to see eye-to-eye
AFP via Getty Images
“Alpine’s senior bosses wanted success faster than was possible. I told them what was possible, and they said they didn’t have time for that.
“It seems they don’t understand that it takes time to change a culture, to get new skill sets where we didn’t have them.”
