It's hard to know more specifically what signing Pat Symonds means for Andretti without being aware of the finer details, like how long his gardening sabbatical will be in Formula 1 and what role he'll actually play (beyond that, that's pretty vague What is at the moment). Job title (Executive Engineering Consultant).
And you can be very sarcastic and say that he will only go there for the payday before the project is finally closed. But I can't see the logic in that.
Simmonds has been in the area several times. He'll find out if this offer is up in a couple of months anyway, and if so, he won't get anything out of it because he has to finish his gardening vacation. So, if it's going to be closed by the time he gets there, what's the point?
He must be going to Andretti thinking this will definitely happen or that he has a good chance of it happening – or it may be the case that he thinks he can be the thing to get it over with.
Hiring someone so senior directly from the organization that was just rejected is, just in terms of optics, a nice little win for Andretti. It's good PR value. But apparently it's also more than that because Simmonds is respected. He's knowledgeable and has great contacts, so he's a tangible asset as well.
So you can only see this as a win for Andretti – assuming it's a serious move and that he'll actually become part of the project and it won't all fall apart before he arrives. But I would be really surprised if he would go there if he thought there was a realistic possibility of it happening.
You might also imagine this means that Simmonds disagrees with Formula 1's assessment that Andretti cannot compete. Why would he go to an organization if he thought this would be the case?
It's just a divided opinion, but more importantly he is one of the most senior individuals in Formula 1, and has the most experience in that organization of what it takes to actually succeed in Formula 1 – on a similar level with CEO Stefano Domenicali – who clearly believes he can be successful.
If nothing else, it slightly undermines the claim that this team can't compete – because a Formula 1 technical director is joining them.
He's not going to waste his time there, so this definitely goes against Formula One's rationale.
