In the midst of uncertainty prevailing in Formula E due to some teams’ continuity and new teams’ entry, some manufacturers have expressed their unrestricted support to the competition, which already has seven successful seasons.
That is Andretti Autosport’s case, despite having a key partnership with BMW, which announced its withdrawal for season eight, reaffirmed their commitment to the electric single-seater category.
This was announced by Roger Griffiths, Team Principal, at a virtual conference in which he dismissed concerns about developing its own engine, as it briefly tried to for the 2015-16 season, before returning to Renault’s standard propulsion system. That, after preseason testing was affected by unreliability.
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He pointed out that Andretti will continue running BMW engines for 2021-22, the last installment of Gen2 era, after they officially bid farewell at the end of the current tournament.
Griffiths assured he remains confident about the BMW configuration on which Maximilian Guenther won the first New York City E-Prix. The chief executive came out against speculation that the American organization is out of Formula E.
“I definitely feel good about BMW powertrains for 2022 and I want to make one point clear: I hear rumors that we won’t be here, but we are 100 percent committed to the Gen3 era and all that going forward. We are here to stay,” he emphasized.
Replacing BMW
Asked about possible teams that could come in to replace BMW and support Andretti, Griffiths said he wanted to stick with a road car manufacturer rather than establish a relationship with an engineering firm like Dragon Penske and Mahindra Racing.
“We’re working on it with a couple of manufacturers and, hopefully, we can get something done. We’re concentrating a lot more on the marketing side, which could help,” he said.
Andretti has yet to reach an agreement with a major sponsor for its 2021-22 season, although strong negotiations are ongoing.
McLaren’s Hesitation
While there are contacts to bring in the British manufacturer to Formula E, UK sports media have revealed that the interest has “considerably cooled” for 2022.
A few days ago, Zak Brown, McLaren’s CEO, stated on the matter that “we are studying to see how Formula E continues to develop. Teams are growing significantly and negotiations are underway to establish a cost limit. That hasn’t been done yet.” “We still don’t know if it will be economically viable without a cost limit, I don’t think it will be,” he added.
Despite rumors and crossed information, Formula E CEO Alberto Longo recently assured that the series handles a waiting list of teams interested in joining the tournament.
Written by I Jhonattan González
