After two years of ya boo paddock politics Formula One made an unexpected U-Turn over their decision to reject an eleventh team into the sport. The Andretti F1 application given the green light by the FIA some 18 months ago had been rejected by Liberty Media owned Formula One Management (FOM) until a surprise change of direction at the 2024 USGP.

The detail behind the reasons for the about turn were not made clear, however the presence of US lawmakers in Austin, Texas and the presence of lawyers representing Christian Horner, Lawrence Stroll and Toto Wolff in the Lone Star State spoke volumes. 

It appeared the Cadillac entry had morphed from the original Andretti proposal and under pressure from sanctions from the US Justice department, FOM capitulated and a number of personnel from both sides were sidelined to ease through the deal. The threat of an anticompetitive judgement against F1 as suffered by the NFL recently and resulted in a fine in excess of $2bn appeared to have finally hit home to the F1 executives.

 

 

 

 

F1 hustle to change the decision

A change of leadership in the Andretti proposal, where Michael Andretti had stepped back form his role within the F1 team appeared to be the first move behind the scenes, given it was Michael who had ruffled F1 feathers in the paddock calling them “sheep” along with other less complimentary names.

Now the proposal contained no reference to the Andretti name despite the team having already recruited some 200 people for its Silverstone base. Suddenly interest from the justice department wained and hey presto, Andretti/Cadillac were in just nine months after they had been refused.

It appears things behind the scenes moved quickly as in Austin, Texas representatives from the Justice department were present. It was reported that Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and Lawrence Stroll had all arrived at the circuit lawyered up folioing their part in a secret WhatsApp group which plotted to block Andretti.

The name of the company where the new team resides is TWC Global and it was announced between the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the race in Qatar, that they will be offered a place on the 2026 grid. GM paid a reported $450m anti-dilution joining fee which is up on the current $200m contained within the current Concorde Agreement.

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Cadillac can exploit the rules

Cadillac will be looking to exploit the rules advantage they have as currently not part of the F1 framework they can carry out unlimited aero and wind tunnel testing. The existing teams are restricted in the amount of time they can sped on such activities as will GM when they join the grid in 2026.

Yet it appeared the announcement of the eleventh team was not communicated to all the team owners before being made public. Cadillac are the first team to be admitted into the sport since 2016 when Haas F1 joined the grid. Haas to had benefitted from the unlimited design work they could undertake which concerned some of there historic teams such as Williams.

Haas decided to outsource as much of their car build and design as the rules allow, which Williams complained was unfair on the smaller constructors. The team finished their first season a respectable 8 out of 11ahead of Renault, Sauber and the soon to be defunct HRT.

As General Motors press ahead they have confirmed that Graeme London will join the fray as team principal for the new Cadillac F1 team. London currently manages the first and only Chinese driver in F1 and this could be good news for Zhou Guanyu who has been dropped next year by the Sauber-Audi project.

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Team bosses were surprised by U-Turn

When asked whether the anti-dilution fee was enough to compensate each team for their lost share in prize money, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack suggested they had been caught by surprise at Cadillac being accepted. 

“Well, This came a little bit by surprise or came a little bit unexpected. And I do not have so much information about it, to be honest. So I think we have to trust F1 there, FIA, how this is going to go.

“I don’t know about what payments are being made or have to be made. I think this will have to be defined going forward. So, yeah, I can’t say much except that, yeah, we will have to trust F1 that this is going the way it should go.”

Clearly there was some panic behind the scenes as key antagonists within Liberty Media were shuffled around on the deck. Greg Maffei ex-chairman of the group suddenly stood down after nineteen years in post. Maffei was a publicly critical voice against the Andretti proposal threatening motor racing legend Mario Andretti while he was talking to Stefano Domenicali on the grid.

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Williams see new team as good sign for F1

“Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael never enters Formula 1,’” CNN reported. With Michael and Greg out of the frame, the path was swift to reverse the decision not to allow an eleventh team into F1.

Yet Williams team boss believes the U-Turn on Andretti and the arrival of General Motors in F1 demonstrates the sport is “doing well.”

“I think, first of all, it’s a sign of how well the sport is doing that we have a major OEM like GM joining us. I think it’s just a sign of the growth, a sign of where Formula 1 is going. I don’t think there’s actually any defined amount of dilution fee. I think that’s a part of a ‘26 Concorde, which hasn’t been ratified at this point.

“What I’ve said all the way through is it will have financial loss for existing teams. What we have to do now is grow the sport sufficiently and from need to be aware of that in order to make things good for everyone.”

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Rise in US based sponsors

With American sponsorship rocketing since the acquisition of Liberty Media back in 2017, some of the smaller teams are concerned GM will attract some of their current financial backers to the new American team. Yet Williams closed their roster mid-season for new sponsors, claiming they wanted to add extra value to their partners not merely keep putting more names on the drivers and the car.

RB boss Laurent Mekies echoes the sentiments of James Vowles and the announcement indicates “the sport is going towards the direction of a battle of giants.”

“I mean, echoing what James said, I think all together it’s a fantastic sign for the sport. It’s going to be pretty much all car manufacturers probably, except for Williams and us. You know, even Haas is also linked to a car manufacturers now.

“So it’s a battle of giants, and it’s another sign that the sport is going towards the direction of a battle of giants. And the details of the financials, they are still under discussion, and hopefully they become small in the big pictures of where the sport can go for its next level.”

How Cadillac will fair is anyone’s guess, but the absence of restricted testing and even financial spend until January 2026 for the American team will be a significant advantage. Further the big new rule change will catch out some of the existing teams, where Cadillac can capitalise.

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