It's official: Cadillac will be the 11th F1 team in the paddock in 2026, now that it's been approved to join the championship by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Formula One Management (FOM).
The news follows Formula 1's announcement from last November indicating it had reached an agreement with General Motors to let Cadillac race. F1 had previously rejected a proposal from Andretti Global (led by racing great Mario Andretti) to bring in an 11th team a year ago, citing concerns about the competitive ability of the team.
It was only when Andretti stepped back and investor Dan Towriss took the reins that things started to progress. Towriss is also CEO of TWG Motorsports, the group that will operate the Cadillac Formula 1 team. To that end, Cadillac now has the facilities and a 2026-spec car that complies with FIA's standards, putting it in a position to race next year.
It will start with power units from Ferrari, before it can switch over to Cadillac-designed mills later down the line through TWG GM Performance Power Units, a firm dedicated to developing proprietary power units. Industry veteran Russ O’Blenes has been named CEO of this entity, with a view to make a “full works” team by end-2030.
Cadillac F1 hasn't yet announced its roster of drivers, and it's still building out its crew of more than 200 people – inviting specialists in aerodynamics, mechanical and systems design, control systems engineering, and race strategy analysis to come on board.
"Ongoing preparation and development of our power unit continues, and we’ve been working hard to hire some top tier talent," explained O'Blenes. "As we continue to add more experienced engineering personnel, we look forward to running our first V6 in the near future."
The arrival of Cadillac F1 next year will mark the first time the grid's been expanded since 2016, when Haas joined the fold. The all-American Marque has a long history of endurance racing across prestigious circuits, so this will be a markedly different chapter in the years to come.
Source: F1
