EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FORMULA ONE’S NEWEST TEAM: CADILLAC F1

As Formula One’s current teams return from the midseason break, its newest is preparing to take the track next year. Following a years-long saga, the series officially approved Cadillac F1 as its 11th team in March, with the outfit set to start racing next season.

Formula One last added a team ahead of the 2016 season, when Haas began racing as the only American-owned team on the grid. Now another will race alongside it, with plans for an operation based primarily in the United States. (Haas is headquartered in North Carolina but largely operates in Europe.)

The new team reportedly built and crash-tested a car for next year, and it announced its inaugural driver lineup last week. As Cadillac F1 prepares for its 2026 debut, here’s what you need to know.

1. Who will drive for Cadillac F1?

The team tapped veterans Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas to take the grid in 2026. Bottas formerly raced alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for five seasons and most recently competed for Kick Sauber. Pérez and Max Verstappen raced four seasons together with Red Bull, ending last year when Pérez was replaced by Liam Lawson. Together, Bottas and Pérez have won 16 F1 races, earned 106 podiums and three runner-up finishes in the drivers’ championship.

One can argue Bottas and Pérez were the best available drivers, with others such as Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher linked to the team. But that lineup also provides stability and championship experience for a team that enters the fray as the sport shifts to new aerodynamic and engine regulations ahead of next season. Bottas and Pérez have aided the circuit’s two most recent dynasties in Mercedes and Red Bull, winning multiple constructors’ championships alongside Hamilton and Verstappen.

“Bottas and Pérez bring an unmatched blend of experience, leadership and technical acumen, positioning the Cadillac Formula 1 Team to hit the ground running as it joins the world’s most elite racing series,” the team said in a statement. “... The pair will play a central role in shaping the team’s competitive foundation from day one.”

2. Why not sign an American driver?

Some hoped a new American team would tap an American driver to fill one of its seats, but a limited talent pool may have narrowed its options. Just three Americans have raced in Formula One in the past 30 years, with Logan Sargeant ending a near-decade-long drought in 2023 — before getting dropped from Williams partway through his second season last year.

F1 privileges its own feeder system over outside series such as IndyCar, making it more difficult for prospective Americans to reach the grid. American IndyCar driver Colton Herta had been linked to the Cadillac seat years before it officially became available, but he has failed to secure the necessary credentials to qualify for the seat. He will instead serve as one of Cadillac’s test drivers this upcoming season, the team announced Wednesday.

“We know from feedback from fans that fans would love to see an American driver in an American team with an American engine as well,” team principal Graeme Lowdon told the Associated Press last month. “These things are all things that could well happen. I see no barrier to seeing that combination in the future.”

3. Who heads the team?

Lowdon, former leader of the now-defunct Manor F1 team, was hired in December as Cadillac’s principal after serving as an adviser to its chief executives for the previous two years. Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which operates the Cadillac program, has said Lowdon’s “experience on both the technical and managerial sides of Formula 1 and other motorsports ventures will serve him well as he builds the Cadillac Formula 1 team.”

More recently, Towriss shot down reports that former Red Bull boss Christian Horner would join the program. Horner was fired this summer amid Red Bull’s struggles on the track — and more than a year after Red Bull’s parent company cleared him following an investigation into misconduct allegations made by a team employee.

4. Why did Formula One add another team?

Those following offtrack news may recall former F1 driver Michael Andretti’s efforts to purchase the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo team, but those negotiations fell through in 2021.

The following year, Andretti filed an application with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the circuit’s governing body, to enter Formula One with a new team, which he would run alongside his father, Mario, the 1978 F1 world champion. They later bolstered their bid by aligning with General Motors, which owns Cadillac.

Their application received FIA approval but was rejected in January 2024 by Formula One, which argued the team would not be competitive or add enough value to the series. Other teams opposed the addition on the grounds that it would dilute prize money, though they had no formal vote in the matter.

That rejection prompted the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation last year into Formula One owner Liberty Media, which a group of senators accused of engaging in anticompetitive practices by denying the Andretti application.

5. So, how did we get here?

Last September, Michael Andretti restructured his organization, Andretti Global, taking a smaller, advisory role while ceding control of the company to Towriss, its co-owner. That change seemed to expedite the process as negotiations accelerated with Towriss in control, and F1 gave its approval in November, making the decision official in March.

“Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the eleventh team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process,” it said in a statement.

The new team must pay a reported one-time fee of $450 million to join the grid, with that sum being split evenly among Formula One’s 10 existing teams as compensation.

Cadillac F1 will use Ferrari engines for its first three seasons while GM completes its own. The FIA approved GM in April as an official power unit supplier starting in 2029.

6. What happened to Michael Andretti?

Andretti reportedly is enjoying retirement. He has no operational role with the new F1 team, though his father was named director of its board. Following Cadillac F1’s approval, Michael Andretti wrote on social media: “The Cadillac F1 Team is made up of a strong group of people that have worked tirelessly to build an American works team. I’m very proud of the hard work they have put in and congratulate all involved on this momentous next step. I will be cheering for you!”

2025-09-03T13:05:20Z