Binotto: We are looking at IndyCar

[Jag_Warrior]

Gotta be honest, with Penske in and Tony George & family now being taken out with the garbage, this news has me rather excited. If (I know, BIG if) this comes to fruition, and they get a driver or drivers that I can cheer for, this would make me put IndyCar back on my racing travel schedule. It would be nice to have some positive feelings toward this series again after so many year of being down on it. I'm hoping for the best.


Ferrari is seriously considering an entry into IndyCar, revealed team boss Mattia Binotto on Thursday.


Binotto said Formula 1’s new budget cap of $145 million (118.9 million pounds) for teams from 2021 would lead to staff being made redundant and the Italian carmaker was looking at options to ensure its employees retain their jobs, albeit in a different field.
The budget cap had been set initially at $175 million but some teams had wanted a limit closer to $100 million to ensure the sport survives the COVID-19 crisis.


“Ferrari feels a lot of social responsibility towards its employees and we want to be sure that for each of them there will be a workspace in the future,” Binotto told Sky Sports Italia.

“For this reason we have started to evaluate alternative programs and I confirm that we are looking at IndyCar, which is currently a very different category from ours.

“At Ferrari we were structuring ourselves based on the budget approved last year ($175 million), and the further reduction represents an important challenge that will inevitably lead to review staff, structure and organisation.”

American Mario Andretti, one of four men to win both the F1 and IndyCar drivers championships, said this week that he would love to see Ferrari as both an engine supplier and a chassis builder in IndyCar. (My personal belief: cool thought by Mario, but under the current rules, that's impossible and I don't think there's a desire to open up the rules to allow anything other than spec chassis for the foreseeable future.)

Binotto said Ferrari was also looking at endurance racing as another option.

“We also observe the world of endurance racing and other series,” he added. “We will try to make the best choice.”

[gm99]

Memories of 1986? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_637
Maybe they can get Graham Rahal to test it, like his father did for the 637.

[Jag_Warrior]

Yep. Ol' man Enzo still had some tricks up his sleeve back then. Too bad that didn't happen. If Ferrari had been serious and come over to CART, and Ayrton had gone with Penske in '93, can you imagine what the IndyCar world would look like now?! Oh well, no point in playing what if. It is what it is...

If Ferrari has the desire to get the most bang for the buck (marketing wise), I think they'd do better developing an IndyCar engine, forming a factory backed team and going for an Indy 500 win, rather than building up a complete Le Mans/WEC program. Don't get me wrong, I love Le Mans. In fact, I'd like to see Ferrari do both programs. But the FIA and ACO are about as rudderless and clueless as Tony George on his worst day (and that's pretty dang bad). Those people don't seem to know if they're batting or pitching about half the time. With the Penske organization now over Indy and the series, I just think that there's a LOT more stability and predictability with IndyCar. All things equal, you know that your money is pretty safe in the Bank of Penske.

[Jag_Warrior]

More promising news:


Penske: We’ve talked with Ferrari about Indycar



Ferrari has engaged in preliminary discussions with Indycar about joining in 2022, says series owner Roger Penske.

Following Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto’s announcement in May that they were considering an entry as part of their need to re-deploy staff and resources due to Formula 1’s impending cost-cap, Penske has now confirmed that talks have taken place.

“Obviously we’re looking at potentially adding other manufacturers,” he told the Brick-by-Brick podcast.

“You probably heard it, there’s been discussions with Ferrari, [who] might be interested in joining the series, coming in 2022 when we have the new engine rules, and that would be a great asset to have a third manufacturer in the series.”

At the same time, the Scuderia are believed to be exploring other avenues such as WEC, but Penske believes there is legitimate interest from them in making a second home in North America, and wants to make it happen.

“We are trying to attract new manufacturers to the sport,” he reiterated. “Ferrari has shown public interest before and so we have sat down for a talk. For IndyCar, Ferrari would be a great addition.”

[Ian French]

It's just a shame that it amounted to nothing... again.

It's become a bit of a running them now. Ferrari wasting Indycar's time.
They are full of BS