General Motors Co. and TWG Global said Monday they’ve reached a tentative agreement where GM will have an 11th team in the global Formula One racing series starting in 2026.
The new F1 team will be branded as Cadillac. It would be the first new F1 team since 2016. Each F1 team has two racing cars.
GM said it’s forming an F1 power unit that will put the Cadillac Formula 1 Team “on the path to being a ‘full works’ team — building its own F1 vehicles and power units — by the end of the decade.”
For the Detroit-based automaker, F1 presents an opportunity to market its vehicles globally.
“As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence,” GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement. “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. This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.”
In November 2023, GM said it wanted to enter F1 in 2025 via a partnership with IndyCar race team owner Michael Andretti. But F1 rejected that bid in January. The racing series at that time raised doubts whether an Andretti partnership could compete. At the same time, it said it might consider a GM-owned team in 2028.
Michael Andretti, the son of racing legend Mario Andretti, gained fame mostly as an IndyCar driver before becoming a team owner. He competed in F1 in the early 1990s but did not complete a full season. Mario Andretti won the F1 drivers’ championship in 1978. Mario Andretti also won the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.
In October, Michael Andretti, 62, said he was stepping down as the lead executive of the Andretti Global racing team. In addition to the Cadillac F1 partnership with GM, TWG Global owns and operates Andretti Global, Wayne Taylor Racing, and Spire Motorsports.
So now, GM is pursuing its F1 dreams without Michael Andretti. However, Mario Andretti, 84, will be a director on the new team’s board.
“My first love was Formula 1 and now – 70 years later – the F1 paddock is still my happy place,” Mario Andretti said in the statement.
For F1, the tentative agreement is a chance to bring in one of the largest automakers in the world.
“We’re excited to partner with General Motors in bringing a dynamic presence to Formula 1,” Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Global’s motorsports businesses, said in a statement
“Together, we’re assembling a world-class team that will embody American innovation and deliver unforgettable moments to race fans around the world.”
F1 conducts races around the world. Many F1 races are held in Europe but others are in Asia, the Middle East and the U.S.
GM said its new F1 team has operations in Fishers, Indiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Warren, Michigan; and Silverstone, England.
