It's Official: Cadillac Will Join Formula 1 in 2026

After a long saga trying to get onto the Formula 1 grid, General Motor's entry has finally been approved. The Cadillac Formula 1 team will enter the 2026 season as the 11th team in the series. It will be the first-ever American F1 team as a ground-up effort from a major American automaker.

GM has promised to produce its own F1 engines by the end of the decade, although initially it will use a powertrain from a separate team. It's unclear which team it will be, although Ferrari and Honda are rumored to be likely contenders.

The Detroit automaker's initial efforts to get on the grid were in the form of the Andretti-Cadillac team, and indeed it seems like Andretti Global will still be a part of the picture, although perhaps not in name. It appears as if Michael Andretti stepped down as the CEO of Andretti Global in order to get GM on the grid in 2026, with Dan Towriss becoming Andretti Global's new chief executive. 

An official F1 press release describing GM's ascension to the F1 grid does not mention the Andretti name, but does quote Towriss as the "CEO of TWG Global’s motorsport business," which just so happens to include Andretti Global. Cadillac, however, states that "Mario Andretti, the last American F1 Champion, will serve as a director on the team’s board."

GM plans to use Andretti's infrastructure as well as its own to support the team, including "operations in Fishers, Indiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Warren, Michigan; and Silverstone, England." So the partnership between Andretti and GM is still foundational to the project, but externally that may not seem clear. 

Cadillac is the first F1 team to join the sport since 2016, when the only other American-owned team, Haas, was admitted to the grid.