Helmut Marko believes that Andretti would be best served by buying out the troubled Alpine team.

The Austrian's comment comes at a time the French outfit is in turmoil, having sacked its team principal and sporting director over the Spa weekend and lost its technical director to Williams, while Bruno Famin, who was appointed VP, Alpine Motorsports and member of Alpine Management Committee early last month, is left to pick up the pieces.

As the team slumps to sixth in the standings, the so-called 5-year plan is in tatters, the Enstone-based outfit a shadow of its former self.

"Andretti should buy the Alpine team," Helmut Marko tells Sport1.de. "That would be best served for everyone. Formula 1 would keep its ten teams, Andretti could finally get in and Renault would still be involved."

Despite its partnership with Cadillac, Andretti already has an agreement in place with Renault should it secure an entry, however should it pull the plug on Alpine might the French manufacturer close down its entire F1 operation, after all it only currently supplies engines to one team, itself.

And while Andretti sought to buy Sauber would it want to buy Alpine, especially considering the fact that the French outfit is the latest incarnation of what began as Toleman back in the mid-80 before becoming Benetton.

Then, there are the reports that Alpine has already agreed a deal which will see former Ferrari boss, Mattia Binotto joining, possibly as early as September.

Buying Alpine would certainly get around the resistance to Andretti from F1 and the majority of the teams, indeed, along with McLaren, Alpine was the only outfit willing to allow the Americans to enter the sport.

While the FIA mulls the various proposals from would-be entrants, as recently as last week F1 bosses were playing down the need for new teams.

"Formula 1 has 10 great teams, we're very excited about what they're doing," said Liberty Media CEO, Greg Maffei in an investor call on Friday. "There's a process to add more teams but the bar is very high, and it's unclear what value and 11th team would add, and there's a lot of uncertainty from the other teams about adding an 11th team.

"The FIA and we have had productive discussions about all this," he added, "do we agree on everything at the moment? No, we discuss things and hopefully work things out."

"The FIA started a process, as is in their possibility, we are waiting for the final conclusion," said F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali. "As always, in these discussions, we'll find an agreement together because the value of the teams and the value of the business today is very, very strong.

"That decision, that information, will come very, very soon, I would say within the month of September."

Meanwhile, another problem facing Alpine as it seeks to move forward is the little matter of engine equalisation, Toto Wolff having warned that if the French manufacturer gets its way it would be a catastrophe for the sport.

Marko doesn't agree.

"We were not against it when it came to the Renault case," said the Austrian. "But it must be clearly demonstrated that the performance gap is significant. And it must be ensured that measures are taken that do not weaken the rest of us.

"The application has therefore been put on hold at the moment," he added. "I can understand Alpine's problems. It's not just about engine performance. If you are too far behind in performance, you will have to make compromises with the car set-up to compensate for the lack of speed on the straights, which can amount to a loss of up to three-tenths. And that comes at the expense of the driving characteristics of the car."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 13/08/2023 10:17

"Is Marko determined to become the new Bernie, with these increasingly bizarre pronouncements? "

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2. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 09/08/2023 15:44

"@Superbird70 Selling Alpha Tauri wouldn't be a bad idea. Red Bull could maintain a title sponsorship deal and not have to concentrate on the daily running of two teams."

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3. Posted by Defiant, 09/08/2023 15:30

"More word salad from the cartoon evil one. I think him suggesting that Andretti should buy another team when he's part of the organisation that owns two all while pretending it's nothing to do with money is beyond ridiculous. If you really think that, then sell him one of yours.

Alpine is a shambles right now but they're still doing better than AT..... surely that should be an embarrassment to him, but nope not Dr M"

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4. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 09/08/2023 14:01

"Andretti has plans a mega US development facility for all their racing programs. Are they obliged to keep Enstone if they buy the team? For Andretti-Cadillac, it is about America. Not the British Midlands.

Granted every F1 teams does needs a European facility "

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5. Posted by Jean-Pierre, 08/08/2023 18:55

"Andretti could not do worst than Alpine. The many gaffes of the team management team have crippled the team for years. They only have second tier drivers and do not have a competitive car. I'd welcome Andretti, but it wold be a major blow to French F1 culture, which dates back to the very beginning of the sport. I still don't understand how they could get it so wrong. "

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6. Posted by Superbird70, 08/08/2023 16:12

"Maybe this the time to off-load Alpha Tauri? Alpine may be outwardly more dysfunctional and under-powered but they still have 57 points to Alpha Tauris' 3. Andretti really only wants a team in order to join F1. A name change is inevitable , and a relocation of production facilities has always been stated as well. "

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Andretti should buy Alpine, says Marko

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