It may not have surprised many that, once FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem announced he would begin a process to bring new teams into Formula 1, the Andretti Group would be the first to confirm their interest.
Cadillac’s LMDh share headlights designs with the LyriqSome drivers have already cultivated strong American followings, notably Lewis Hamilton and DTS poster-boy Daniel Ricciardo, the latter an obvious hiring target if Andretti’s team gets the green light for 2026. The series has its first full-time US racer for 15 years in Logan Sargeant this season.
Like its rival carmakers, GM faces the challenge of making the shift to electric vehicle production while the majority of its sales still come from fossil fuel-burners. It aims to have a fully electric vehicle line-up by 2035, but is finding uptake among buyers slower than expected, and not as quick as that of Toyota. While GM sold over 38,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles last year, it shifted fewer than 1,000 of its Cadillac Lyriq electric SUVs.
Taking Cadillac into F1 therefore makes a great deal of sense. The championship’s up-market image is an ideal fit for the brand. What’s more, its appeal isn’t confined to the USA. Last July GM announced it intends to return several of its brands to Europe. The Cadillac Lyriq is seen as a key model for this, drawing on the popularity of electric SUVs. Its rivals include the Audi E-tron, and the German marque has already bagged its place on the F1 grid for 2026.
GM has high hopes for Cadillac’s Lyriq SUVCadillac’s planned move into F1 is only part of the expansion of its motorsport activities. Its V-LMDh sportscar, co-developed with Dallara, will make its debut at the Daytona 24 Hours this month. Cadillac will also use the car for its return to the Le Mans 24 Hours.
A move into F1 therefore looks timely, and doing so in collaboration with Andretti promises to be a cost-effective way of doing so. GM is not committing to building its own F1 power unit, instead labelling one obtained from another supplier, potentially the Honda units used by Red Bull. Branding an operation in this way is what Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato termed ‘the best business model in F1’.
It may prove no coincidence that as GM confirms its interest in entering F1 with Cadillac, rumours suggest another of its biggest rivals – Ford – could be tempted back to the series. F1 has not exactly been forthcoming towards Andretti’s efforts to enter a team, but facing the tantalising prospect of two manufacturer heavyweights going up against each other, surely it would not dare turn its nose up at a GM-backed entry?
