F1
F1 confirms General Motors' arrival as 11th team for 2026
Soon an 11th team in F1! © Cadillac
The echo was beginning to grow from the Nevada desert where the gigantic Las Vegas hotels sprang up several decades ago. There will indeed be an eleventh team on the grid in 2026, and therefore 22 drivers! FOM announced this Monday evening that it had reached an agreement in principle for the arrival of the American automobile giant General Motors in Formula 1 in just over a year.
“Formula 1 has maintained dialogue with General Motors and its partners at TWG Global regarding the viability of participation following the commercial assessment and decision taken by Formula 1 in January 2024., we could read. During this year, they have achieved operational milestones and have clearly expressed their commitment to name the eleventh team GM/Cadillac, and to bring GM on board as an engine supplier at a later date."
Andretti, there or not there?
As for the engine supply, this could be more likely to be planned for 2028, although no date was given in the press release. If General Motors wanted to join F1, it is first of all thanks to its alliance sealed two years ago with Andretti Global, which was keen to join the grid in the coming seasons. Michael Andretti's sometimes harsh tone in the media has never really pleased the teams, however, who considered that the possible arrival of the Americans would divide the pie of their revenues without making the pie bigger.
A mutual distrust had even ended up setting in, while behind the scenes, the FIA was pushing in favor of the Andretti team while the FOM refused to go against the interests of the existing teams. What is striking in the press release is above all the absence of the name Andretti. It is indeed a question of a partner for General Motors, a certain entity called TWG Global, this one being directed by Dan Towriss, who had… replaced Michael Andretti at the head of his team a few weeks ago, in what seemed like a sacrifice. Coincidence?
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Jeremy Satis
Deputy Digital Editor & F1 Reporter
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
25/11/2024 at 09:56 a.m.
What news!! The American administration has started to question compliance with anti-competition laws, Liberty Media is also separating itself from part of its (very lucrative) activity on which it had a quasi-monopoly in the USA, Greg Maffei who could not stand Michael Andretti has taken a step back or left (as has Mario's son) ... and all these people are agreeing on the arrival of an eleventh team certainly built on Andretti Global when we note the recent hiring (with several former Renault F1 from Enstone) on its British site! All this does not tell us what the PowerUnit of this new entrant will be (Honda with which GM has industrial agreements?)
vincent moyet
25/11/2024 at 07:56 a.m.
Also a coincidence, the departure of Greg Maffei?? Obviously something was happening behind the scenes (perhaps under pressure from GM who surely has weight) and some served as a fuse. In any case, very good news for the young talented drivers that there are 22 seats to fill.
Jacques Morin
25/11/2024 at 09:35 a.m.
I couldn't have said it better... Maffei will quickly find a job in the Trumpist mafia, let's not worry about him... but the cuckolds in this story may well be the Andrettis who started it all... does that hurt, Michael?