Hamilton completes Barcelona test with excellent lap time … and the Renault engine for the future Andrei F1 team!

Asked yesterday as part of the first day activities of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix (the starting point of the 2022 Indigo season), Mario and Michael Andrei provided further details about their plan to set up the Formula 1 team ready to launch in 2024. .

Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 World Champion and also the spokesperson for the projects of this F1 Framework, also known as Andretti Global, has removed the veil on a key aspect of the future team’s driving partner file. This is Renault. With only its alpine team remaining on F1, the French brand will find a client group to share as much information as it wanted to set up with McLaren three years ago.

Michael Andrei was a little annoyed by the recent reports of Mercedes manager Toto Wolf, rather than the positive points on the idea of ​​accepting the 11th team in Formula 1, which is currently reducing the return of 10 teams. In the debate. According to Michael Andrei, the arrival of his team will further increase interest in F1 in the United States, thus attracting more viewers and sponsors from this country, so that everyone in Formula 1 will win. Talk that the owner of F1 and the American company Liberty Media openly support.

His father Mario, meanwhile, told the American media that he thought Wolf’s reaction came from fears that his team would use a Ferrari engine, which would allow it to have more teams than the Italian brand Mercedes, so votes. The fact that Andrei Global has opted for a partnership with Renault instead should allay the fears of the Wolf and Mercedes-running teams.

Another source of satisfaction for Mercedes was the absolute best time set by Lewis Hamilton yesterday, the third and final day of the pre-season test in Barcelona, ​​racing in partial rain. This day was marked by the absence of Aston Martin, Alpine, Haas and Albatari single seats during the last afternoon tests. Technical problems in the morning prevented these teams from returning to the track in the afternoon. According to Aston Martin, the oil spill was caused by Sebastian cutting being forced to stop in the morning, and Lance Stroll could not be fixed in time by the team to finish the show in the afternoon.

In the course of all these tests it should be remembered that if Mercedes had finished tomorrow with two excellent laps yesterday (George Russell formed at one-tenth of Hamilton), the Ferraris would have proved particularly fast and reliable. A good omen for the season. On the other hand, the Red Bulls had some minor problems. The next tests will take place in Bahrain in about ten days.