General Motors agrees deal to enter F1 in 2026 please log in to view this image IMAGE SOURCE, CADILLAC Image caption, A new team will be named after GM's Cadillac brand Andrew Benson F1 Correspondent Published 1 hour ago US car giant General Motors has reached an agreement in principle to enter Formula 1 in 2026 with its Cadillac brand. A statement on Monday said that GM and its partner, the US group TWG Global, had committed to name a new team after GM's luxury Cadillac brand and to build its own engine "at a later time". F1 said the application process would "move forward". Greg Maffei, president and chief executive officer of F1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media, said: "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. "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." Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of F1's governing body the FIA, said: "General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) world and is working with impressive partners. "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." Senior sources in F1 have told BBC Sport that GM and TWG will pay an anti-dilution fee of $450m (£358m) to secure the entry. This will be split between the existing 10 teams as compensation for their loss of prize money as a result of F1’s income now being split 11 ways rather than 10. The teams receive between them in the region of 63% of F1’s income. This is larger than the $200m anti-dilution dictated by the existing F1 rules, but the contracts between the teams, F1 and the FIA end after 2025 and are being renegotiated for 2026. The fee is expected to go up again in the new deals. The Cadillac team will need to buy a customer engine from an existing supplier to plug the gap before its own engine is finished, which is not expected to be before 2028. Talks have not been completed, but the favourite at the moment is Ferrari. The Italian team will have a spare supply from 2026 as a result of one of their two current customer teams, Sauber, morphing into Audi's official entry, for which the German car company is building its own engine. The new Cadillac entry is a revision of the Andretti bid that was rejected by F1 in January. F1 said at the time that it did not believe the Andretti project, which was in partnership with Cadillac, would add value to the sport. This revised bid is viewed differently because it will be GM entering as a team owner. The new team will be a joint effort between GM and TWG, with Dan Towriss, owner of US team Andretti Global, and TWG's Mark Walter as the other key investors. Towriss was at last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix working on the new project. Michael Andretti, who co-founded the team that bears his name, is no longer involved after stepping down from his role in Andretti Global in September. The former IndyCar and F1 driver was viewed as a divisive figure who had rubbed people up the wrong way with what was seen to be his confrontational approach to trying to secure an entry. F1 is facing an investigation from the US department of justice into its decision to reject Andretti’s initial entry. GM’s entry will raise the number of car manufacturers building engines for F1 to six, in addition to Mercedes, Ferrari, Ford, Honda and Audi. Ford, Audi, GM and Honda have all been persuaded to take part in F1 from 2026 as a result of new engine regulations that increase the role of the hybrid part of the engine to about 50% of the total power output. Honda, which is in F1 with Red Bull at the moment, had announced plans to pull out, but reversed its decision on the basis of the road-relevance of the new rules. It has an exclusive supply deal with Aston Martin from 2026. Ford, Audi and now GM are all new entrants. Ford is partnering with Red Bull in building a new engine. Renault-owned sports car brand Alpine will remain in F1, but is abandoning its engine build programme and its team will use Mercedes customer engines from 2026. "Exciting times ahead with the news of Cadillac joining the Formula 1 grid as the 11th team in 2026," said McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown. "Their rich history and experience in automotive innovation and performance will no doubt add a new dimension to our incredible sport. Looking forward to the competition!" Related
F1 seems to have been convinced, but personally I’m a bit sceptical - in particular the lack of even a commitment date around the new powertrain is a red flag for me. I’m not holding out much hope, or seeing any particular reason this is going to be a real success or add much to the sport. One caveat to that - How does this work with the Budget Cap and the RRA? Current F1 teams aren’t allowed to work on the 26 rules really yet, does that also apply to them? Looking forward to seeing how they cram them in to the pits at Monaco, I guess the FIA garages will have to make way?
This is a good summary of the project and sort of answers the question around development - they’re currently not bound by any rules, but suggests that somewhere between the final acceptance and the beginning of 2025 they will become so. https://www.youtube.com/embed/LEvVp5hElfo?si=UvJzcBQw-mJ95Z1o
So long at they aren't hopelessly off the pace in last, I think there's value in extra cars racing and more opportunities for drivers. Putting up £350 mill as an entrance fee makes me confident enough that this isn't HRT. Tough to get things off the ground, but long term I think the worst case they end up like Renault or Toyota and stagnate in the midfield. Always found it bizarre that FOM tried to use the the number of garages as an excuse. 2016 wasn't that long ago.
Whilst it’s important to realise that that the entry fee is basically buying them a licence that’s worth 2-3x more, I’d agree that it’s unlikely that we’re looking at a team that would struggle with the historic 107% rule and there’s definitely improvements over the original proposal with much more being done in the UK Motorsport Valley and it seeming less likely they’ll be wedded to 2 US drivers irrespective of performance. Aside from anything else, all the equalisation measures since the last new entrants also serve to prop up the rear and constrain the front of the grid. Even Williams and Sauber - who are both heavily hamstrung this year - are in the pack rather than off the back of it. As such I expect them to become regular points contenders, but I don’t expect them to become regular win contenders, so basically like anyone behind Aston in this rules cycle. It’s quantity, but I don’t see it developing into quality, which is fine, if anyone could be at the front it wouldn’t be impressive to be there. The garage thing I guess is about “fairness”/“equivalency” the F1 circuits have to be able accommodate 26 cars, but lots do it through only offering the back few/half of the grid 2 garages. Right now with 10 teams everyone gets 3. Similarly with drivers we’ve had “old men” seat blocking for a few years, finally next season that seems to be largely over - another couple of cars will mitigate it a bit I guess, should the teams go that way again.
They’re still involved I think, but now as a partner, I believe they have some ownership though (similar to Merc and Toto/Ineos/Merc arrangement)
