It emerged over the Turkish Grand Pri🤪x weekend that 1991 IndyCar champion and former F1 driver Michael Andretti is closing in on a deal to purchase a majority stake in Sauber’s controlling company, believed to be worth up to 80%. 

Such a deal would give Andretti contro♍l of the Swiss outfit’s racing and engineering arms, which inclu🍸des the Alfa Romeo F1 team. 

, Andretti, the son of 1978 F1 world champion Mario, is set to hold significant talks with Sauber at the upcoming United States Grand Prix a🌜t the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur remained tight-lipped when asked about 𓆉the growing r🐲umours on Friday. 

“I can say nothing bꦡecause honestly🀅 it’s not in my perimeter,” Vasseur said. 

“I’m the CEO and team principal, and these kind of discussions are not with me, it w🌜ould be with the shareholders.ಌ 

“We have so many rumuors and🉐 so on that, you’d have to ask the question to the shareholders of the company.” 

Andretti Autosport already runs a successful team in IndyCar, whose current drivers include Colton Herta, who has won six races over his four year🍒s in the series. 

The 21-year-old American - who is the youngest person to ever win an IndyCar race - has been linked with a🏅 switch to F1 in recent years, though he is currently lacking the superlicence points required to race in the world championship. 

Andretti recently signed ex-Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean to its r🧸oster for the 2022 IndyCar season. The American squad also competes in Formula E via a collaboration with BMW.

Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo has just signed Valtteri Bottas from Merce🌃des on a l☂ong-term contract and is currently weighing up who to place alongside the Finn next season.

Formula 2 championship leader Oscar Piastri and fellow frontrunner Gua🍸nyu Zhou have both been heavily linked with replacing Antonio Giovinazzi in the sole-remaining seat on the F1 grid for 2022. 

“Seriously we are not in💎 a rus🐎h to take a decision [on drivers],” Vasseur insisted. 

“We have a couple of options on the table and we have to take time to 💮decide, but we are not in a rush. The situation won’t change over the next couple of days and we will take a decision soon.

“We are discussing with all the parties involved and it’s not an easy choice. We are in the beginning of the new regulatioﷺns, it’s a new journey for F1 and we have to consider all the points. 

“It would make sense for us to have a look at the last e🍎vents in F2 — Monza and Sochi — and OK now the situation is like this and we w꧃ill take a decision in the next couple of weeks."