ESPN journalist now shares how quickly Andretti could potentially join the Formula 1 grid

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The Andretti-Cadillac racing team could theoretically join the Formula 1 grid by 2025 if everything went as smoothly as possible.

Journalist Nate Saunders was speaking on the ESPN F1 YouTube channel about the prospective American team.

The Drivers’ Championship might have been wrapped up yesterday but attention is already turning to the future of F1.

Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team celebrated second place in the Qatar Sprint Race as Oscar Piastri won his first-ever Formula 1 race.

However, many teams are already preparing their cars for 2024 and beyond.

They could soon be joined by another team in the grid as Andretti-Cadillac continue to push to join the sport.

Saunders has now said that Andretti could be a Formula 1 team by 2025 if everything goes to plan.

Mario Andretti had admitted he would consider buying a team currently on the grid if his application was rejected.

While the rest of the F1 grid doesn’t seem sold on the idea of an eleventh team, this is the closest an interested party has got to joining the sport since Haas’s introduction.

Andretti could join Formula 1 in 2025

Speaking about the potential of Andretti joining the grid sooner rather than later, Saunders said: “There was a time a few months back where it didn’t seem too likely that this was going to go anywhere.

“We’ll see what the next steps are but this is now the hot topic in Formula 1 for the next months until it’s resolved.

“In theory, Andretti could join the grid in 2025.

“If F1 somehow manages to agree very, very quickly, probably by the end of this calendar year at the very latest, Andretti probably could come in for 2025.

“I don’t see the benefit of them doing that as they’d have to build one car and then in 2026 the regulations change again and they’d have to effectively build a completely new one.

“I’ve heard some of the existing teams question the logic of 2025, 2026 seems the most likely time but if you’re Michael Andretti as well, you’re probably keen to get in as quickly as you can and establish yourself as a team, get your operations up and running.”

Whether Andretti join the grid in 2025 or 2026, right now the aim is just to become a Formula 1 team.

They still face some hurdles with the ten current teams not overly enamoured with the idea of being joined on the grid by two more cars.

However, the chance for F1 to add another American team to the grid when the sport is desperately trying to increase in popularity will be hard to play down.