After all, Formula 1 will have an 11th team in 2026.
The series announced on Monday that General Motors’ bid to add a team to the grid within two seasons had been approved. The FIA had previously approved the GM-backed effort, but F1 and its teams had not yet signed off.
“General Motors and Cadillac’s commitment to this project is an important and positive demonstration of the evolution of our sport,” F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement. “We look forward to the progress and growth of this application, assured of the full cooperation and support of all parties involved.”
The announcement comes after Michael Andretti pulled out of Andretti Global’s efforts to join F1. With Andretti’s role minimized and TWG Global CEO Dan Towriss in charge, negotiations recently broke through when it became clear during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend that an eleventh team would appear at the start.
According to F1, the GM/Cadillac team will join in 2026, with the team using GM engines “at a later date”. This means that the team will have to use engines from an existing engine supplier even in its infancy.
The GM team means that two of the eleven teams in F1 will be American-owned from 2026, along with Haas F1. F1 now has three races in the United States, having added races in Miami and Las Vegas in recent years following the exploding popularity of the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ series.
Andretti, a longtime open-wheel racer who spent a brief stint in F1, had been trying to start a team for years. However, he faced stiff resistance in F1 circles. Andretti’s entry had been approved by the FIA, F1’s governing body, in October 2023, but was rejected by F1 in January. When that application was rejected, F1 said they did not believe the team would be competitive.
Andretti had said he felt the rejection was part of a grudge against him.
But things changed over the course of 2024 as Towriss took on a larger role with the push to join the network and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the team’s rejection as part of a possible violation of the antitrust law. The fate of that investigation is unclear, although the reasoning is that it could be withdrawn now that the bid has been approved.
The GM team’s entry into F1 will take place when the series introduces new car regulations after 2025. Other new manufacturers will join the series in 2026, such as Ford and Audi. Ford will power the Red Bull cars for four-time champion Max Verstappen, while Audi will take over the Sauber team.
Verstappen took his fourth title in a row this weekend in Las Vegas, as he finished one place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. There are two races left in the 2024 F1 season, with the series visiting Qatar and Abu Dhabi over the next two weeks.
