Cadillac Will Join Formula 1 for the 2026 Racing Season
Cadillac’s Formula 1 Team is set to join the F1 grid in 2026 as the 11th team of the racing season. This news comes after Michael Andretti, in partnership with Cadillac, attempted to enter Formula 1 in late-2023. Andretti Cadillac’s application was approved by the FIA but rejected by Formula 1’s commercial rights holder, Liberty… The post Cadillac Will Join Formula 1 for the 2026 Racing Season appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.
Cadillac’s Formula 1 Team is set to join the F1 grid in 2026 as the 11th team of the racing season.
This news comes after Michael Andretti, in partnership with Cadillac, attempted to enter Formula 1 in late-2023. Andretti Cadillac’s application was approved by the FIA but rejected by Formula 1’s commercial rights holder, Liberty Media, which prompted General Motors to switch gears before making another attempt.
Formula 1 had doubted that Andretti could be competitive, also indicating that the team would not be commercially viable for the championship’s growth, hinting that F1 would look more favorably on a full-scale entry by an OEM such as GM. Both Andretti and GM continued to work behind the scenes. Since being denied entry in F1, Andretti founded a European base at Silverstone Park and recruited personnel with Formula 1 backgrounds.
“We have said that our work continues at pace; this new facility embodies that work. While we plan to have an all-American team, with the car assembled in the U.S., having a European base is a great way to attract the best in F1 talent and install state of the art machinery,” Michael Andretti stated in an earlier press release. As of September 2024, Dan Towriss has taken the reigns of the company’s day-to-day operations.
GM had already partnered with Andretti in late 2023 and planned to construct a power unit for the 2028 Formula 1 season. Now, GM, a sponsor of Andretti, will use the infrastructure and personnel established by Andretti Global for its F1 team under the Cadillac name. The team, which will initially be a customer team, will reportedly produce its own power unit by 2028. Until then, the source of the Cadillac F1 Team’s engine is yet to be determined.
“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,” Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said. “We credit the leadership of General Motors and their partners with significant progress in their readiness to enter Formula 1. We are excited to move forward with the application process for the GM/Cadillac team to enter the Championship in 2026.”
“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, adding, “This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.”
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali concluded: “General Motors and Cadillac’s commitment to this project is an important and positive demonstration of the evolution of our sport. We look forward to seeing the progress and growth of this entry, certain of the full collaboration and support of all the parties involved.”
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