Andretti Global and General Motors (GM) have announced their intention to partner on a potential Formula 1 entry following the FIA’s announcement it may invite Expressions of Interest from new teams.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem tweeted that he had asked the governing body to look into the potential to expand the F1 grid earlier this week, and in a joint announcement issued on Thursday Andretti and GM said they are pursuing an entry as Andretti Cadillac.

The partnership would bring GM into F1 for the first time.

“General Motors is honored to team with Andretti Global on this historic moment in racing,” said GM president Mark Reuss. “We have a long, rich history in motorsports and engineering innovation, and we are thrilled with the prospect of pairing with Andretti Global to form an American F1 team that will help spur even more global interest in the series and the sport.

“Cadillac and F1 both have growing global appeal. Our brand has a motorsports pedigree that’s more than a century in the making, and we would be proud to have the opportunity to bring our distinct American innovation and design to F1.”

The team would be based out of the United States but with a support facility in the United Kingdom. An entry date is not yet identified as more details are required from the FIA regarding a potential submission.

“We are continuing to grow Andretti Global and its family of racing teams and always have our eyes on what’s next,” Michael Andretti said. “I feel that we are well suited to be a new team for Formula 1 and can bring value to the series and our partners, and excitement for the fans. I’m proud to have GM and Cadillac alongside us as we pursue this goal. GM and Andretti share a legacy born out of the love of racing. We now have the opportunity to combine our motorsport passions and dedication to innovation to build a true American F1 bid.

“Together, we will continue to follow procedures and steps put forth by the FIA during the evaluation process. In the meantime, we continue to optimistically prepare should we be fortunate enough to have Andretti Cadillac formally approved as a Formula 1 contender.”

The FIA welcomed the news, although warned it would take a number of months for the process of looking into new teams to be carried out.

“The FIA is exploring the Expressions of Interest process and we will provide a further update in the near future,” an FIA spokesperson said. “Today’s news from the United States is further proof of the popularity and growth of the FIA Formula One World Championship under the FIA’s stewardship. It is particularly pleasing to have interest from two iconic brands such as General Motors Cadillac and Andretti Global.

“Any additional entries would build on the positive acceptance of the FIA’s 2026 PU regulations among OEMs which has already attracted an entry from Audi.

“Any Expressions of Interest process will follow strict FIA protocol and will take several months.”

In response, Formula 1 said it is excited by the amount of potential teams that want to join the grid but reiterates Andretti is not the only team attempting to do so.

“There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others,” an F1 statement read.

“We all want to ensure the championship remains credible and stable and any new entrant request will be assessed on criteria to meet those objectives by all the relevant stakeholders. Any new entrant request requires the agreement of both F1 and the FIA.”

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com, General Motors president Mark Reuss said they had a “signed agreement” with an existing power unit supplier.“We have a signed agreement with a power unit supplier to begin with,” Reuss said. “And then as we move forward, we bring a lot of our expertise to create things for the future as well.”

...

Heading into the 2023 season, there are currently four power unit suppliers on the grid in the form of Mercedes, Renault, Ferrari and Red Bull Powertrains with assistance from Honda.

It is the last name that currently appears the most likely to be the supplier of the Andretti Cadillac engine given the Japanese manufacturer’s close ties with General Motors in other departments. The two parties have developed a close working relationship in recent years, in particular in regards to electric and autonomous vehicle technologies.

On the link with Honda, Reuss said they had a “natural respect and relationship” with Honda but refused to confirm whether they would be supplying engines to the proposed team.

Honda is believed to have already agreed to supply Power Units to Michael Andretti's prospective Formula One team.

Cadillac will be footing the bill, and branding the Japanese engines as Cadillac, as the cooperation between General Motors and Honda continues to grow. The two companies signed a major deal last April, in which they agreed to expand their relationship to a new level by codeveloping a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global architecture using next-generation Ultium battery technology.

During that announcement it was stated that, GM and Honda "are working together to enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027, including compact crossover vehicles, leveraging the two companies' technology, design and sourcing strategies. The companies will also work toward standardizing equipment and processes to achieve world-class quality, higher throughput and greater affordability. The compact crossover segment is the largest in the world, with annual volumes of more than 13 million vehicles."

This growing partnership made it completely logical for Cadillac to turn to Honda when it was necessary to find a partner that already has the technology required to design and develop a 2026-spec Formula One Power Unit and during the announcement of the deal with Andretti, GM's president, Mark Reuss, said that, "we have a signed agreement with a power unit supplier to begin with. Then, as we move forward, we bring a lot of our expertise to create things for the future as well."

The American, though, just fell short of confirming that the manufacturer is, indeed, Honda, but admitted that, "obviously we do have a large partnership with Honda on the EV part of it, and we also compete against Honda in series like IndyCar as well. So, we have that natural respect and relationship, which is not problematic at all. But we'll talk about the engine piece of this at a later date."

Securing this deal means that Honda Racing has won the internal battle against important Board members who wanted the company completely out of international racing and with the financial investment being fully covered by Cadillac, there's no legitimate reason for anyone to block it, as the deal represents a win-win situation for Honda, who will continue to develop technology that is relevant for the future of the car industry at zero or very limited cost.

This deal also means Honda's ties with Red Bull will be completely cut by the end of 2025, when the current commercial deal expires, with Ford now likely to become the brand that will finance and badge the Power Units that will be designed and developed by Red Bull Powertrains.

Should that be the case, with Ford and Cadillac branding Formula One engines from 2026, the sport has all the conditions to continue to grow in the United States, fulfilling one of the biggest declared goals of Liberty Media when the company bought Formula One's commercial rights.

A rift between Formula 1 and the FIA appears to be growing after the governing body’s president Mohammed Ben Sulayem hit out at what he believes to be “adverse reaction” to Andretti Cadillac’s desire to enter F1.

Michael Andretti says opposition to the Andretti Cadillac project from other Formula 1 teams comes down to “greed”, but that F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is encouraged by the program’s General Motors link.

GM and Andretti announced its plans to partner on an F1 entry shortly after the FIA opens up its Expressions of Interest for new teams to join the grid last week, with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem welcoming the move. Andretti has faced opposition to his plans up to now and says pushback from existing teams is due to fear that they will get less revenue.

“It’s all about money,” Andretti told Forbes. “First, they think they are going to get diluted one-tenth of their prize money, but they also get very greedy thinking we will take all the American sponsors as well.

“It’s all about greed and looking at themselves and not looking at what is best for the overall growth of the series.”

However, despite hitting out at the teams, Andretti says F1 and the FIA themselves are more supportive, even though the sport warned there are many interested parties wanting to join the grid.

“In Formula 1, the owners look out for themselves; not what is best for the series,” Andretti said. “That is the difference between President Mohammed’s position and the team owner’s position. President Mohammed is looking out for the future of the sport.

“Mohammed gets it. He’s a racer and he understand the series needs to have one or two more teams. It is an FIA championship, and it holds most of the cards to get the Expression of Interest going.

“Stefano was very happy when we brought up the name ‘Cadillac.’ It’s going to be huge for Formula 1, as well. Formula 1 is growing so much in the United States, to bring General Motors and Cadillac into Formula 1 was very big for all sides considered. It’s a powerful thing to bring Formula 1 into the United States.”

Describing Zak Brown and Alpine as “two very good allies” to the project, Andretti says those who believe Cadillac would just be a sponsor are mistaken and he is determined to prove his opponents wrong.

“Cadillac will be very much involved in the manufacturing of the car,” he said. “If we get in, in 2025, there won’t be a new engine yet, so we would have to go with a formula that is used now, but in 2026 there are various things we can do with another engine manufacturer. It would not be a badged engine, because there would be intellectual property from Cadillac in that engine, so that is not a badged engine.

“You have to stay focused on your job and not listen to the naysayers. I actually use the naysayers as motivation. It’s always fun to shut them up.”