General Motors and its luxury band Cadillac have made it clear in the past that it wanted to join Formula 1 with the racing series being the opportunity to show off its race-ready technology while also serving as a laboratory to put these same feats of engineering through their paces. However, what was supposed to be a smooth road towards approval ended up taking longer than some in General Motors anticipated but Formula 1 confirmed that it’s finally allowing Cadillac to join Formula 1.
Cadillac entry will make history
When Cadillac enters the 2026 Formula 1 season, it will be the first-ever American Formula 1 team to be built from the ground up by a major American automaker. GM says that it will eventually produce its own F1 engines, but for now, it will rely on a powertrain from an outside source but stopped short of revealing which team will supply the engines in the short term.
The original effort would have seen Cadillac gain admission as part of the Andretti-Global team. However, it seemed that some backroom talks were done with Michael Andretti apparently stepping down as CEO to allow GM to get on the grid. However, the Andretti presence will not be erased completely, with racing legend Mario Andretti not only staying on as a director on the team’s board, but the team will also use the existing infrastructure of the Andretti empire for various functions.
Could this translate into production cars?
Maybe, F1 tech has occasionally trickled down into production cars but it usually gets its start in performance vehicles before getting watered down quite a bit for duty in your average daily driver. In the case of Cadillac, some of the technology that its F1 racer will have could eventually see production in some shape or form on performance vehicles with the Blackwing and V-Series models getting potential first dibs on the tech before it trickles down into the rest of the GM brand family.
Cadillac’s EV models could also benefit too but look for any tech from the F1 series to perhaps focus on finding new ways to cut weight with EVs always being notorious for being heavy due to their electric powertrains and battery packs which can make creating a performance-focused EV alot harder than a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.