OCTOBER 4, 2023

(autonews.com)

From Jonathon Noble, writing for Autosport:  

"Following months of analysis by the FIA over the expressions of interest to join F1 from 2025 at the earliest, the governing body has finally announced the outcome of its efforts.

In a statement issued on Monday, it said that Andretti was the only applicant that was being put forward to the third and final stage of selection, which involves F1’s commercial rights holders.

But while the FIA is happy with the Andretti bid and believes it fulfils all the criteria it has laid down, that does not mean that the squad will definitely get a place on the grid.

Andretti now needs to reach a satisfactory commercial deal with FOM, and there has long been a known resistance to the field getting expanded beyond 10 teams.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has been consistent that any new outfit would need to bring a clear added value to the championship.

“As we always said, we need to make sure that the decision is right for the business,” he said before the summer break.

“And this is what I think is the duty of the FIA and us together, that has to be taken. So that is another decision that will be taken in the next couple of months."

A statement from Formula 1 on Monday was non-committal about the Andretti development.

“We note the FIA’s conclusions in relation to the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own assessment of the merits of the remaining application,” it said.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the process to select Andretti had been very thorough, which is why it took so long for the analysis to be completed since the process opened up in February.

And amid speculation over recent weeks that any failure by Andretti to agree commercial terms and not get an entry could trigger legal action, Ben Sulayem was careful in stating that the FIA has followed strict procedures.

Michael Andretti on the grid

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz / Motorsport Images

(motorsport.com)

It may have come to a premature end, but the Japanese GP threw up enough drama to last an entire MotoGP™ season as the title fight tightens even further. In terms of pure drama, any other Grand Prix would be doing very well to produce half of what was thrown up on Sunday at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. A rain-soaked flag-to-flag race saw Jorge Martin (No. 89 Prima Pramac Race) make it two wins in a row ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (No. 1 Ducati Lenovo Team), while Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda Team) claimed his 101st MotoGP™ podium. Watch the Extended MotoGP Race Highlights from Motorsports on NBC here. (Thank you to MotoGP)

(Alpine)

Alpine continued the development program of its A424 hypercar with another two-day test session at the Motorland circuit in Aragon (Spain). The 1,500 km covered involved short and long runs in double stints by drivers Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere. This second phase was mainly focused on understanding and fine-tuning the systems and the car's aerodynamics. The development program will continue at Jerez (October 17-19) before moving on to the first endurance session, again at Motorland (November 14-16).

Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG