Liberty Media Clears Path for Cadillac Racing's 2026 Arrival
Nov.23 - Formula 1 is preparing to welcome 'Cadillac Racing' to the grid for 2026.
Developments in the long-running Andretti-Cadillac saga have been occurring thick and fast in the past several days, with multiple authoritative sources now reporting that a negotiated outcome is imminent.
With Michael Andretti taking a back seat, General Motors stepping up, and Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei stepping down, an eleventh team now looks set to debut for the all-new regulations.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff appeared to hint that with the Andrettis no longer centre stage, and GM increasingly involved, the path was cleared.
"I've obviously spoken to Mario (Andretti)," he said. "I didn't speak to his son. I didn't speak to any other people that are behind that. I don't know who they are. But I know GM. GM is great."
Corriere della Sera thinks the "change of direction" in the long-running saga was the increasing intensity of the US government investigations into F1 owner Liberty Media's allegedly anti-competitive decision to block Andretti.
Part of the rumoured deal for the new team to debut in 2026 is that it is called Cadillac rather than Andretti, and that GM produces its own engine by 2028.
Until then, a customer engine arrangement with Honda is rumoured to be most likely. Corriere della Sera, however, believes "Ferrari seems best placed to provide" the engine power.
"The first communication from FOM to us and to the fans about this should take place next week," said Nelson Valkenburg, a journalist for the Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport.
"The teams also still have to be officially informed," he added.
With Michael Andretti no longer at the helm of his organisation Andretti Global, new boss Dan Towriss - also owner of the Gainbridge company - is trackside in Las Vegas this weekend.
"The hurdles seem to have all been removed and suddenly there seems to be big movement in this story," Valkenburg said.
Unlike many other existing F1 teams, American Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, was a quiet supporter of the Andretti-Cadillac project from the beginning.
"I've said from day one that GM and Cadillac Racing are fantastic brands," he said on Friday. "The fans will cheer for more competition and so will we. And it's an iconic brand, so let's see what happens."
The American news agency AP, and specialist outlets like Auto Motor und Sport (Germany) and La Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) are also reporting that Cadillac Racing is set to debut in F1 in 2026.
"When asked, Formula One Management did not want to comment," De Telegraaf newspaper reported.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said on Saturday: "There are a lot of rumours at the moment, but nobody has told us anything about it."
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American team eh, they do realise a V8, 7.5 litre, iron block, pushrod engine wouldn't be competitive, or even legal.
Hahaha, yes! Please put in the good old V8's! I hope they will end the current stupid hibrid era, which makes the cars way to heavy for racing!
Nobody ever asked for these engines and no petrol head wants these engines, please scrap them asap and go back to decent petrol engines. You are not saving the planet, it's all propaganda. 20 cars that safe 1/3 of fuel of 100 liters doesn't compare to the gazillion litres of plane fuel to carry them around the globe for 23 races!!!! It's sow f*cking stupid!!!
Why the new v6 is much faster than the old Iron v8 why have a old v8 7.5l that produce 250hp if you are lucky when the new v6 1,6l who will produce 500hp the only thing the old v8 is good at is as a boat anker
The current V6 has a huge turbo, which the last V8 did not have the were "normal" combustion 19.000 rpm engines, which gave them the great soudn. the current power units also are helped by the electric motor which as around 161 hp and has massive torque.
Oh Jester I forgive you for you know not what you’re saying. My little sports car weighs slightly over a ton and it’s old fashioned 7L Ford V8 has been dyno’d at 594 bhp on a single carb.
Lewis likes them and they sound great.
Who is Lewis ?
So the other teams are now suggesting it was a personal thing with Michael Andretti involved. So what has changed it was still going to be GM/ Cadillac involved. No it was the threat of the investigation for anti competitive behaviour that made the other teams back down.
What have they got against Andretti exactly?
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