“I don’t know what Michael is trying to do” – After reports of Michael Andretti considering buying Sauber, speculation of him considering Haas as an option also surfaces.
Michael Andretti, like his former F1 champion father Mario Andretti, is an American racing legend, having won the IndyCar series, and also trying his hand in F1 with McLaren.
And it seems he’s not done with F1 yet, after reports of him being interested in the Sauber team. The Swiss team is currently being co-funded by Italian automobile giants Alfa Romeo.
Apart from Sauber, Haas also seems to be interest to Andretti. It is the only American team in the F1 paddock currently and would make sense to have a stronger American investment.
But its team principal Guenther Steiner is not very optimistic about that happening, confirming there have never been any concrete talks, as far as he is concerned. As for Andretti investing in Sauber, Steiner is completely okay with a rival American team.
“I spoke with Michael a few times, not lately, honestly. I don’t know what Michael is trying to do. Everybody knows each other in American racing, maybe there were talks but maybe not as concrete as you think they are.
“I don’t see anybody as a threat [as an] American team. We have no issue with that one [Sauber], wherever the team is from.
“I think what we didn’t do, we didn’t exploit the American market, the sponsorship market, as much as we should have because otherwise we would have more American on the car.
“There hasn’t come anybody knocking on our door with big sponsorship saying ‘because we are American this is what we are going to do’ or ‘this is why we are going to support an American driver’.”
