RacingDespite headlines tying Otmar Szafnauer’s comeback to Van Amersfoort Racing, RacingNews365 reports the real money sits with an unidentified American investor group aiming for a major Formula 1 stake. Szafnauer is fronting the plan, but his new role at Van Amersfoort Racing appears separate from any F1 entry. Sources cited by RacingNews365 suggest he will move only if a window opens for a 12th team after Cadillac took the 11th.
RacingNews365, citing sources with good knowledge of the situation, says the U.S. group wants either significant shares in an existing F1 team, a fresh entry, or a full takeover. The outlet adds that while some have linked the project to Van Amersfoort Racing, the junior-series brand is expected to stay in its lane. The same sources say the VAR name is likely to remain in Formula 2 and Formula 3 and not appear in F1, IndyCar, or sports car racing.
Szafnauer, now CEO and managing partner at Van Amersfoort Racing and previously a team principal at Alpine and Racing Point, set out the options in a recent interview. “We’ve been considering the launch of an F1 team, and if there’s an interesting opportunity, we could enter, or we could also invest in an existing team,” Szafnauer said in the interview. He linked that to past efforts to join the grid, adding, “We had been looking into entering as the 11th team before, but that slot went to Cadillac; if the possibility of a 12th team opens up in the future, we also want to challenge for that,” Szafnauer said in the same interview.
The governing body is not opening that door right now. “At the present time, no expression of interest process is formally open between the FIA and F1 for a new team,” the FIA said in response to a query about a possible new team. RacingNews365’s reporting notes that there is no date set to open such a process and that a relaunch is not expected in the near term.
While F1 remains the big target, RacingNews365 reports the American investors are also looking at a quicker route into IndyCar and sports car racing, especially the Hypercar category. Szafnauer backed that shorter timeline in his recent interview. “We will expand in a direction that increases the value of the organization as a whole, including considering IndyCar teams and sports cars; we’re thinking from a shorter-term perspective, not a long-term one,” he said. On the U.S. single-seater path he added, “If you’re going to acquire, it should be a team with a charter; there are several things to consider,” Szafnauer said in the interview.
RacingNews365 frames the project as fluid, with parts still taking shape, but points to a clear thrust: a U.S.-backed push aiming at F1 when an entry path appears, while preparing faster moves in IndyCar and Hypercar that can be executed sooner.