On Monday, Formula 1 announced that it will expand its grid in 2026 to include an American team partnered with General Motors.
“As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It’s an honor 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,” GM President Mark Reuss said. “This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.”
The approval ends years of discussions that led to a U.S. Justice Department investigation into why Colorado-based Liberty Media, the commercial rights holder of F1, initially blocked the team started by Michael Andretti.
Andretti stepped back from leading his organization in September, and the 11th F1 team will be called Cadillac F1. It will be run by new Andretti Global majority owners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter. The team will use Ferrari engines for the first two years, until GM builds a Cadillac engine for competition in time for the 2028 season.
Towriss is the CEO and president of Group 1001, and he became involved in motorsports through Andretti’s IndyCar team when he signed Gainbridge as a sponsor. Towriss now has stakes in both Spire Motorsports’ NASCAR team and Wayne Taylor Racing’s sports car team.
Walter is the CEO of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners and the controlling owner of the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Premier League club Chelsea.
“We’re excited to partner with General Motors in bringing a dynamic presence to Formula 1,” Towriss said. “Together, we’re assembling a world-class team that will embody American innovation and deliver unforgettable moments to race fans around the world.”
Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, will serve as an ambassador for Cadillac F1. His son, Michael, will not have an official role with the team after scaling back his involvement with Andretti Global.
“The Cadillac F1 Team is made up of a strong group of people that have worked tirelessly to build an American works team,” Michael Andretti posted on social media. “I’m very proud of the hard work they have put in and congratulate all involved on this momentous next step. I will be cheering for you!”
The approval had been in the works for weeks but was held until after last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, to avoid overshadowing the event. Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive championship in the Saturday race, the third and final stop in the U.S. for the top motorsports series.
Expanding the F1 grid is rare and often unsuccessful. In 2010, four teams were added, which was supposed to push the grid to 13 teams and 26 cars for the first time since 1995. However, one team never made it, and the other three disappeared by 2017.
There is currently only one American team in F1, owned by California businessman Gene Haas, but it is not competitive and does not have American drivers. Andretti’s goal was to have a truly American team with American drivers.
The push to add this new team has been ongoing for more than three years. F1 initially rejected the application despite the support from the FIA. The existing 10 teams were mostly opposed to expanding, fearing a dilution in prize money and the billions they’ve invested in the series.
In 2020, Andretti tried to buy the Sauber team but was unsuccessful. He then applied for grid expansion and partnered with GM, the top-selling manufacturer in the U.S. The inclusion of GM was backed by the FIA and its president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who said Michael Andretti’s application was the only one of seven that met all the requirements to expand F1’s grid.
“General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM world and is working with impressive partners,” Ben Sulayem said Monday. “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.”
Although the FIA supported Andretti and GM from the beginning, F1 was initially uninterested in Andretti, but they wanted GM. At one point, F1 asked GM to find another team to partner with, but GM refused, and F1 said it would reconsider Andretti’s application when Cadillac had an engine ready.
“Formula 1 has maintained a dialogue with General Motors, and its partners at TWG Global, regarding the viability of an entry following the commercial assessment and decision made by Formula 1 in January 2024,” F1 said in a statement.
“Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the 11th team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process.”
Another significant shift in the grid expansion debate occurred earlier this month when Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, who had been one of the biggest opponents of the Andretti entry, announced his resignation.
“With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport,” Maffei said. “We credit the leadership of General Motors and their partners with significant progress in their readiness to enter Formula 1.”
