'I am an optimist': why Andretti is not ready to give up on his F1 dream

The 1978 world champion and his sonare frustrated by their rejected bid to launch an F1team but still retain hope

- Giles Richards

The former Formula One world champion Mario Andretti, perhaps the most successful driver in US history, was T certainly at ease in the paddock at the Miami Grand Prix.

The 84-year-old, who won his F1 championship in 1978 for Lotus and has also taken four IndyCar titles still revels in immersing himself in the sport and his pleasure at its burgeoning revival in his home country is palpable.

Andretti wants to make F1 his home too. But with his family's attempt to bring their new team to the sport stalled, he has been left frustrated and disappointed, yet as determined to fight their cause as ever he was on track.

He has been captivated by F1 ever since he was 14 after he watched Alberto Ascari at Monza in 1954 before his Italian family, displaced by the war, was taken by his father to the US in 1955. Andretti followed his dream from the small town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania to the peak of F1 when the sport was hugely popular in the States.

His son, Michael, has since developed a successful racing team bearing the family name which competes across a range of series and has returned multiple Indy 500 victories, IndyCar championships and the Formula E title.

Last year when the FIA announced it was inviting applications for expressions of interest to join F1, Michael, enthusiastically joined by Mario, applied. They were backed by General Motors who would be supplying the team's engines under its Cadillac brand from 2028.

In October last year, of the four applications the FIA received Andretti's was the only one they approved as meeting the criteria for entry. However the attempt also had to be approved by Fi's owners Formula One Management (FOM).