Formula 1 had reached an “agreement in principal” for Cadillac to join the grid as an 11th team for the 2026 season.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said he was “fully supportive” of the joint efforts made by the series’ promoter, governing body and the General Motors brand.General Motors confirmed it working with TWG Global to bring the team to the grid in 2026. The US car-making giant also announced plans to produce their own F1 power unit “by the end of the decade”, making Cadillac a true full works operation.
GM president Mark Reuss said: “It’s an honour for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world.
“This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.”
“General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM [original equipment manufacturing] world and is working with impressive partners,” said Ben Sulayem. “I am fully supportive of the efforts made by the FIA, Formula 1, GM and the team to maintain dialogue and work towards this outcome of an agreement in principle to progress this application to bring a GM/Cadillac branded team onto the grid for the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship.
“All parties, including the FIA, will continue to work together to ensure the process progresses smoothly.”
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The FIA approved an application to enter the world championship from Andretti Global in October last year. However Formula One Management must also give its approval for any new team to join the grid, and it rejected the application earlier this year.
Rumours during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend claimed FOM was preparing to announce a reversal of its position which would allow the new entrant to arrive in 2026. F1 confirmed today it has reached an “agreement in principle” with Cadillac.
Andretti obtained the backing of Cadillac, which originally announced it planned to enter as as the team’s power unit supplier in 2028. Last month Michael Andretti has stepped down in charge of the Silverstone-based project, prompting speculation Cadillac would rebrand the entire entry.
The FIA selected Andretti from four potential entrants which reached the second phase of its application process. The unsuccessful rival bids included Formula Equal, which was backed by former BAR F1 team principal Craig Pollock; Formula 2 team Hitech GP, whose team principal Oliver Oakes has since taken charge at Alpine; and an Asian entrant under the name LKY SUNZ.
F1’s statement announcing the impending arrival of Cadillac made no mention of the Andretti name.
“General Motors and Cadillac’s commitment to this project is an important and positive demonstration of the evolution of our sport,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. “We look forward to seeing the progress and growth of this application, certain of the full collaboration and support of all the parties involved.”
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However Cadillac confirmed Michael Andretti’s father Mario, the 1978 F1 world champion, will serve as a director on the team’s board.
“My first love was Formula 1 and now – 70 years later – the F1 paddock is still my happy place,” said Andretti. “I’m absolutely thrilled with Cadillac, Formula 1, Mark Walter, and Dan Towriss. To still be involved at this stage of my life — I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
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L.G.
25th November 2024, 18:40
Cadillac with their loyal partner Itterdna joining the grid. Thankfully we get that instead of Andretti.
Dex
25th November 2024, 22:31
Why should I be happy about not having Andretti? I don’t work for Liberty. I find him more likely to be entertaining for me as a fan than any random guy.
Bort
26th November 2024, 4:51
Read LG’s comment carefully
Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
26th November 2024, 8:42
I have a feeling this new partner Itterdna is going to be just as entertaining though.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th November 2024, 21:18
Ahah, it’s andretti turned the other way around, I guess he means they will be andretti without the name.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
26th November 2024, 13:54
lol
Jere (@jerejj)
25th November 2024, 18:47
Good
João
25th November 2024, 18:51
Great, now let Hitech in as well for a proper 24-car grid!
Postreader
25th November 2024, 21:29
Toyota is eyeing the last slot. Supposedly. They might want to take over Haas instead, though.
Placid (@placid)
26th November 2024, 0:12
Formula 1 needs more new talent. 22 drivers are not enough.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
26th November 2024, 0:32
Oh noooo! Imagine TCW stomping round engaging in active legal exchanges after rewarding Ollie with TP role and finally getting “my preferred B team” in under the guise of Alpine. Its done if not publicly or even to Renault minions.
MichaelN
25th November 2024, 19:40
Well well, and it didn’t even need a real investigation. FOM probably figured it’s best to smooth things over before too many of their business dealings become part of a public investigation. Smart guys.
SteveP
25th November 2024, 20:43
If you read around, other web sites have more info, and the new GM/Towriss submission is a pretty good match to what FOM were suggesting the “Andretti” bid should be – in January – a GM works team.
“Smart guys” indeed – that’s the GM / Dan Towriss negotiating team being smart.
Think back, or re-read the response; FOM did not give a flat refusal of the entry, it was a text that said in essence “re-submit in a form that matches the following:”
I suspect much of the GM/DT work has been getting FOM to agree to the team using a customer PU until the GM PU is available in 2028. Team name GM-Ferrari, or GM/Honda ??
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
26th November 2024, 0:27
Well it was Ferrari at least a month ago, but nothing is ever set in stone I guess. Ferrari did have the capacity to power the entire short lived A1 series so no probs on that front.
MichaelN
26th November 2024, 16:35
The “changes” look like window dressing. This still looks like very much the same project. All the stuff FOM complained about, like the customer engines until 2028, them supposedly not being competitive (don’t tell Sauber) etc. has not changed at all. Note that they didn’t say they wanted a works team and only a works team, but also mentioned a “customer team designing all allowable components in-house”.
Dropping Michael Andretti from the day-to-day affairs – and their anti-competitive antics attracting the attention of bodies that even companies like Liberty get uneasy about – seem to have been much more important to move this along. The team was always going to be the Andretti Cadillac team from 2028 forward. FOM presenting a name change and some vague words about commitment (we all know how that works in F1) as some kind of big win for them is just not a very credible story.
That’s not to say Michael Andretti had a solid project. His own shenanigans with Renault and then failing to secure another engine deal no doubt caused a lot of negative feelings about him and the project. By pushing for a 2025 start without any solutions to those glaring problems he set the application up to fail. So whatever the spin people put on it, it’s good that other seemingly more adept people have taken over.
It’s also a win for the FIA, and hopefully they can continue this form into the new Concord Agreement for 2026 and beyond by getting rid of the role FOM claimed for itself – and which Todt gave up without getting anything meaningful in return – in selecting participants in the FIA’s championship.
SteveP
26th November 2024, 17:58
This.
Plus, junior seemed to think being louder covered up any failings. Anyone else had a manager like that?
Diego (@diego388)
25th November 2024, 19:54
That’s cool. It will be thrilling to see their drivers pair
Jack (@jt1234)
25th November 2024, 19:59
Maybe the DOJ needs to look into super license points as well.
SteveP
26th November 2024, 18:19
They can get onto that right after they look into the multi-tier European football league structures, and the insistence on new teams having to start at the bottom.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
25th November 2024, 20:15
Has it ever been actually explained why there’s so much animosity directed towards Andretti specifically? Like did the dude directly offend someone important at some point? I’ve never understood the outright rejection of this one group.
Also having a new manufacturer, especially such a large American one, is cool. But I got to admit I remember 08-09 and the exodus when things got rough, so I tend to think manufacturers are fickle and the prioritisation of manufacturers over privateers bothers me.
SteveP
25th November 2024, 20:56
I don’t think there was any great animosity, simply a failure of Michael to put all the requirements together to arrive at the stated time.
He thought he could drop the name Cadillac in as a little added extra to the Andretti bid as something that would almost surely arrive eventually, maybe – but don’t worry, Andretti will be here. Whereas what FOM expected from a Cadillac bid was a Cadillac PU signalling the presence of a large motor manufacturer actively involved in F1
When he failed with that, he started with a solid line of bluster, gradually alienating even the people who initially supported him.
US DOJ enquiries probably got the DOJ an invite to some of the ongoing GM/Towriss and FOM discussions. At which point they would lose interest since “GM were in the game” already.
Tristan
25th November 2024, 21:24
https://www.racefans.net/2024/05/23/andretti-f1-owner-told-me-never-let-team-in/
There was definitely animosity. This news coming after Maffei stepping down is all you need to know really. Andretti will reportedly be on the TWG board.
SteveP
25th November 2024, 21:37
A link to the article that sourced from a one-off, where all others sourced from multiple reports, which all flipped the encounter around to something where MA was the interrupter of a business breakfast involving Maffei and Domenicalli.
Who to believe, one person (MA) or multiple witnesses?
I think “annoyance” covers it far better.
This news, coming after Michael stepped away, and Towriss had been in negotiations with GM and FOM for some while, tells you all you need to know.
GM and Towriss likely pushed MA toward the exit.
Tristan
25th November 2024, 22:28
It’s got to be a bit of both right? It seems concessions have been made on both sides. Regardless of the circumstance of the quote, the quote is as it was. Yet here we are, with Andretti reportedly involved, even if it’s not as the title of the team.
SteveP
25th November 2024, 23:01
When is business ever black and white?
Like the reported involvement of Andretti, just that it’s the retired-I-don’t-do-that-stuff-now Mario, not Michael.
And it’s a GM works team, not a GM customer team. The negotiations with FOM seem to have had no Andretti family involvement.
PacificPR (@streydt)
25th November 2024, 21:02
+1 on both. Very curious to see who will actually make it to the grid in ‘26 and in what form..
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th November 2024, 7:56
1 advantage is Cadillac can test nonstop in 2025 untill they join 2026 So they can test their engine under real race situations so their chasis will be decent and their engine will not have their teething problems in 2026.
Strange enough I am one of those race fans that never had Cadillac as racing company (always Ford & Chrysler from the States) now we see how good they are.
notagrumpyfan
26th November 2024, 13:15
But that is primarily because there won’t be a GM engine in 2026 :P
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
25th November 2024, 22:56
There is definitely something we don’t know about Andretti’s bid that both Andretti and the FIA are hiding.
anon
26th November 2024, 8:25
@rocketpanda part of it was that Michael Andretti was making a series of rather extravagant claims that seemed intended to make his bid look more impressive, but instead made others think that his bid was completely unrealistic.
For a start, Formula 1 was supposed to only be one element of his global plans, with claims that he was going to enter into Formula 2 and Formula 3 as part of his plans to create his own driving school and junior academy, as well as entering the WEC and multiple other series – and all of this was supposed to be happening simultaneously by 2026. There was also his belief that he could be competing for the WDC and WCC within just a couple of years of entering the sport, and his projections of having a headcount of over 1000 people.
There were also concerns about what was seen as a rather complex and potentially inefficient production chain too – he was planning to have the aerodynamics team based in Cologne at the TMG wind tunnel, a large chunk of the remaining design team in the UK, production taking place at his own factory and then another team at General Motor’s research department working on the power train. The structure of the operations was rather convoluted, and there was a feeling that he was overly optimistic about how easy it would be to manage those operations from his headquarters in the US.
There was also some indication that Michael had a bit of an antagonistic attitude towards the sport and FOM, and it seems that even his business partners in this venture felt he was sometimes taking an unnecessarily antagonistic attitude towards others and even towards them.
Added to that, it seems that some of his activities outside of motorsport raised questions about his financial acumen. The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that he set up made some questionable investment decisions, including into a company known as Zapata Computing Holdings (which was originally meant to be developing quantum computing devices, but abruptly changed direction into generative AI).
Unfortunately for Michael, the acquisition of Zapata was an utter disaster. The company went public on the NASDAQ in November 2023 at $10.00 a share, but the company was rapidly losing money and the share price subsequently collapsed to $0.26 per share back in October this year, when the company declared that it was insolvent and going into liquidation (with it’s shareholders, which include the Andretti’s, unlikely to be paid due to the debts the company had racked up).
When it was announced earlier this year that Michael was handing over day to day operations of his team to Towriss, there were more than a few who suggested that decision may have been forced onto Michael due to the amount of money he’d lost in acquiring Zapata and the significant drop in confidence in his abilities from his partners about his decision making.
Tristan
26th November 2024, 11:02
anon coming in with the lore ty ty
S
26th November 2024, 11:11
And that’s a problem because…?
Each of those series’ entries would be self-funded through respective commercial payments and acquired sponsorship deals. F2 and F3 run externally-produced and supplied spec chassis and only require a handful of people to run teams.
Regardless, even if they didn’t enter any/all of those, it would have no bearing on their ability to create and run an F1 team.
If he didn’t believe in it himself, or at least be able to sell the concept, he wouldn’t have been able to convince commercial backers to get on board to actually make it a reality, would he. Sales 101.
Ever tried starting or growing a business yourself? Without aspirations, it doesn’t go anywhere.
And 1000 people? Why not? All of the big F1 teams have that and more (including contractors).
Which F1 team doesn’t have that in some form or another? Ferrari, perhaps… Not that it should be of any concern to anyone other than the team itself, provided the final product is competitive (even if only for 20th place – which would almost certainly be the initial reality).
Anyway, the internet makes communication and data transfer entirely seamless – as though they are in the same room. Most manufacturers of pretty much anything operate this way now, across all industries.
These are an example of the nonsense that Liberty and the existing teams came up with to reject them, though. Projected (non)issues that would not have any real consequence even in the event they did happen. F1’s income/image would not have suffered one iota even if Andretti’s team as proposed had been the worst F1 team ever – or not even a been a team, like another previous US F1 team entry – provided that it was entirely of their own doing.
Instead, creating this nonsense just made F1 and all the existing teams look pathetic, anti-competitive and exceptionally greedy and selfish.
Doh
26th November 2024, 14:31
Interesting read, thanks. I suppose the FIA’s approval of andrettis bid was purely sporting and nothing considering business. How did they approve though with the plans of the team being so segmented and located so far apart?
anon
26th November 2024, 15:14
Sulayem has said several times in the past that he wanted “a US team with US drivers” on ideological grounds (ie having a US entry to make the sport more global, although some also read it as a sign of Sulayem also wanting to push the FIA’s presence into the US, where most motorsport series are outside of the FIA’s control).
His decision to approve the deal was likely influenced by those parallel interests and the specific agenda he wanted to push. Some of the promises that Michael made do also seem to have been made specifically to appeal to some of the points that Sulayem insisted on, so there may also have been an element of telling Sulayem what he wanted to hear.
There is a rumour that may have come at some cost to the FIA though, as there are claims that they’re having to pay compensation to Hitech for rejecting their entry (Hitech took them to a tribunal and succesfully argued that the FIA hadn’t run a fair bidding process).
Dan G (@dang)
26th November 2024, 18:00
To be clear (as the article isn’t) this is still the Andretti racing team entry, with wind tunnel in Cologne, the actual team in the UK, and a nominal HQ in the US. It’s literally a rebrand.
Aquila_GD
25th November 2024, 20:58
Bottas may get a drive after all.
A Practiced Observer
25th November 2024, 21:57
F1 successfully avoided having a team enter the series using a customer engine until becoming a works team when GM was ready with their power unit, which would have devalued F1 and showed a lack of being any serious competitor.
Instead, F1 got the much preferable and superior situation where a team enters the series using a customer engine until becoming a works team when GM was ready with their power unit.
SteveP
25th November 2024, 23:03
Ouch.
A Practiced Observer?
More like “Razor Wit”
notagrumpyfan
26th November 2024, 7:42
Spot on.
And due to the major changes they simply had to change the name of the entrant as well.
Let’s see if Andretti will be able to beat the Saubers.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th November 2024, 7:58
Saubers will be Audi in 2026 but they have a whole to test parts in reallife situations.
notagrumpyfan
26th November 2024, 10:01
sarcasm: I deliberately referred to the Sauber (and Andretti) name ;)
MichaelN
26th November 2024, 16:41
Exactly this.
And they lost Michael Andretti and got the US Congress of their back. Both would seem like wins from FOM’s perspective. The former might also seem like an improvement to people inside the team.
Dane
25th November 2024, 23:51
Great news! I’m still confused as to why Andretti/Cadillac would not “bring value” to the sport but Cadillac on their own is just fine.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th November 2024, 8:01
customer team vs works team Cadillac takes everything over.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
26th November 2024, 0:38
I hope they name it the GM M16A1 in honour of GM’s global contributions.
But yes!!!! I can’t wait to see the liveries and proposed special helmet designs. I wanna see nooooow
Doh
26th November 2024, 14:35
As long as it isn’t bland or the usual white or black with some red and grey added in
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
26th November 2024, 2:18
Sorry for being a little slow here, or having perhaps missed something, but what is to stop the team becoming Andretti after entry, or Andretti effectively taking over the team? Surely they cannot mandate against that.
F180 (@f180)
26th November 2024, 3:08
Still waiting on Haas, Stake, RB Visa and Aston to be F1 material.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
26th November 2024, 6:46
Forgetting Williams and Alpine ?
MichaelN
26th November 2024, 16:42
Different rules for the Europeans.
SteveP
26th November 2024, 18:33
That looks to be a remarkable evenly split between left of pond and right of pond ownership
Mog
26th November 2024, 19:00
Seems quite petty the timing, change of name etc. someone in F1 had a grudge against andretti. We will never know what really went on