Cadillac commercial deal with F1 remains incomplete = There were remarkable events taking place in Formula One in 2024, the final specifications for the all new powertrains for 2026 was finally signed off while the chassis regulations for debut at the same time remained in limbo. The FIA sacked its F1 race director with just three races of the season remaining though promoting an inexperienced official to replace Neils Wittich did prove trouble free.

The revolving door at the Place de Concorde in Paris where the FIA resides gathered pace with the likes of Tim Mayer, son of the c-founder of McLaren and F1 steward of 15 years was relieved of his duties. Janette Tan who was  to be promoted to F2 race director also left the organisation at the same time, with just two race weekends of the season to go. Both were informed by text of their sacking.

The F1 drivers’ union, the GPDA only for the second time in its history penned an open letter which was highly critical of the FIA president himself. In a hard hitting response to Mohammed Ben Sulayem who had suggested the bad language used by the F1 competitors was in some way similar to the behaviour of certain rappers, the drivers did not pull their punches.

 

 

 

 

F1 2024 a remarkable year

“We urge the FIA president to consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise,” the statement read. “Further, our members are adults. They do not need to be given instructions by the media about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants.”

Just days prior to pre-season testing was to being, FOM the operating company owned by commercial rights holder Liberty Media finally gave its response to the green light the FIA had given to the Andretti organisation to join the F1 grid as the eleventh team.

In a rambling list of excuses, many of which were incoherent, FOM claimed the Andretti team would not be competitive were they allowed to join F1, now apparently a pre-curser to any team joining the sport. The utter ridiculousness of this position was stark given James Key, the technical director for Audi/Sauber had claimed the same month that the integration of the two entities would not be complete until 2027 despite them taking their place on the grid from 2026 onwards.

“I think ultimately, we’re probably not going to be the final product that we’re aiming for until about ’27 time really, because there is a lot to do. But we’ll be in far better shape as we approach ’26. And that will give us the opportunity to take the step forward we need to,” he told Autosport.

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Pathetic excuses from FOM

So Sauber/Audi can spend some four seasons getting up to speed after the completion of the Sauber takeover, but Andretti are required to be a front runner and winning Grand Prix in year one? The response from FOM was as absurd as the perpetual propaganda which had emerged from the paddock starting almost two years previous.

Excuses such as, “not enough garages” in places like Zandvoort had been cited despite the current Concorde agreement providing for up to twelve teams which the circuits and promoters must accommodate if necessary. The final irony came when the FIA announced later in the year that Zandvoort would be leaving the F1 calendar in 2026 anyway.

Come the first trip across the pond for the F1 circus to the Miami Grand Prix in May, even more extraordinary events were to occur. Mario Andretti was on the grid speaking rot FOM supremo Stefano Domenicali, when the then Liberty Media CEO interrupted the conversation to snarl at one of the greatest motor racing legends of al time: “I will do everything in my power to see that Michael Andretti never enters Formula 1.” 

He then turned on his heel and marched away. Mario explained he was ‘devastated.’ “I could not believe it. It was just like a bullet through my heart,” said the former F1 champion, Indy500 winner along with a host of other blue ribband events.

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US Justin Department wields its muscle

In stepped the US justice department demanding FOM produce documentation supporting the process y which it arrived at the decision to refuse the Andretti F1 application. The F1 executives clearly failed to consider the The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which outlaws unreasonable restraints on market competition to produce the best outcome for the American consumer.

Unlike precious Eu Commission investigations into suspicious F1 practices which took years to complete, come the USGP in November, the US Justice department was ready to convey its decision. Christian Hor, Toto Wolff and Lawrence Stroll each arrived at COTA with personnel legal representation to defend them from alleged WhatsApp conversations which plotted to exclude Andretti form F1.

The president was clear. The NFL had recently been fined a whopping $4.7bn under the same US anit-trust laws and whilst F1 could remove itself from the US jurisdiction by cancelling its racing in the States, unlike the owners off American Football, having invested close to $1bn in the facilities in Las Vegas they faced something of a very large conundrum.

Behind the scenes some desperate corporate reshuffling had taken place at Andretti, which was now to be badged as Cadillac. Also Michael Andretti has resigned from the race team’s operating company in some back door deal with FOM. Mario Andretti was though announced as a non-executive director or the organisation.

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Lightening U-Turn on Andretti application

Yet the speed of the U-Turn caught senior paddock officials and some team principals by surprise. The F1 broadcast media did its job questioning the reasons for the change of heart, yet the wall of silence was deafening with no details of how Cadillac would fit into the commercial arrangements between FOM and the F1 teams.

Come the end of the season in Abu Dhabi, there were still no answers to be had as to why one of the most dramatic about turns in F1 history had been effected by the sport’s commercial rights holder. Even more bizarre having fired the starting gun on the Andretti F1 entry, the FIA this week reveals it is “finalising” the details around the team’s entry to the sport.

Unlike Haas who joined in 2016, Cadillac will be bound prior to the start of the 2026 season to the current restrictions on placed upon the teams in competition this season. Further, “The budget cap will apply to Cadillac in 2025 from the moment its registration for the 2026 season is completed,” a spokesperson for the FIA revealed.

Yet the silence from FOM over how the financial pie will be sliced up between the even teams remains a mystery for many paddock observers. Cadillac intend to join the grid in 2026, but use a Ferrari power unit until their own is will be ready in 2028. On this topic the FIA had this to say: “New power unit manufacturers must comply with the required restrictions, including bench testing, at least three years before their planned entry. This would be the latest possible date to notify the FIA.”

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Cadillac may never build a 2026 F1 PU

However, suspicions are emerging that Cadillac may never build one of the new breed of V6 power units the current teams are working upon. When the regulations finalising the specifications for these new monsters were announced, which many in F1 believe to be a white elephant, F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali revealed his feelings for the project.

“My personal opinion is that it would be enough to run on climate-neutral fuel. But we had to take into account the wishes of the manufacturers. Developments have gone so fast that a decision today might be different from what it was two years ago. I am not an engineer, but I have to have a vision of what the sport will look like in the future. And I can imagine that with the next regulations, we can focus on sustainable fuel,” Domenicali said in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport.

“If we can show that we can produce zero emissions with it, we can regulate other important sustainability issues. Cars and engines would then become lighter and less complex again. And the engines would have good sound again. That is important for the fans. But for now, we have to focus on the next step, not the one after that.” Concluded the Formula 1 CEO and formerFcerrari  team principal.

While the life span of the current big, heavy power units survived for some twelve years, there were mitigating factors which meant the original eight year duration was extended. Reading between the lines, Domenicali is on board with many of the team’s engineers who believe the F1 cars of the future must drop weight significantly and become the nimble and spectacular racing machines they once were.

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Commercial deal for Cadillac remains incomplete

To this end the excessive weight of the planned electrical systems must be dropped and with a Cadillac executive maybe ‘mis-speaking’ at a recent publicity event, the promise from the American giant motor manufacturer is that now they will have designed and built the new specification of F1 powertrain “by 2030.”

Whether FOM will cough up more cash for the current F1 teams price pot, is again a topic they have failed to address. Team bosses have dropped their propaganda over the downside of an eleventh team, almost overnight, such was the might of sanctions the US Justice department could have imposed.

At present there is no lifespan set for the new V6 turbo hybrid PU’s, yet TJ13 sources believe they will be replaced as early as 2031, rendering the point of Cadillac spending hundreds of millions on designing their own version of what will prove to be a dogs dinner solution tonpowero the F1 grid.

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Hamilton exploding tyres, ‘Mercedes fault’ says Pirelli

Pirelli have now been Formula One’s dedicated tyre supplier since 2011. The history of tyres within the sport makes for interesting reading but for most of the first fifty years since the inaugural season in 1950, multiple tyre manufacturers were available for he teams to choose from.

The most recent ‘tyre war’ amongst multiple manufacturers was initiated with the return of Michelin to F1 in 2001. Bridgestone had been the sole tyre provider for the preceding two seasons yet the challenge from Michelin was to eventually see F1 opt for a sole supplier of rubber to the sport.

For the 2005 season, tyre switched mid-race were banned with the result that both Bridgestone and Michelin were forced to develop much harder tyre compounds to withstand a range of demands from various circuits together with a full race distance of 300km. Yet the debacle at the 2005 US Grand Prix put pay to this regulation change as the Michelin tyre runners feared the tyres would explode as the cars developed enormous G-forces around the banked section of the Indianapolis Speedway…. READ MORE