General Motors has plans to break onto the Formula One grid with Cadillac, joining forces with Andretti Global to make it happen. The Andretti Cadillac organization has hit plenty of roadblocks in its journey to get onto the international racing stage, including a rejection from Formula One Management (FOM), but there may be another path with less resistance: purchasing an existing F1 team.
According to Reuters, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Mohammed Ben Sulayem, said that the answer to Andretti Cadillac struggles would be to purchase an already established F1 team instead of pushing to bring an 11th entry to the grid.
“I would advise them [Andretti Cadillac] to go and buy another team, not to come as the 11th team,” Sulayem said. “I feel that some teams need to be refreshed. What is better? To have 11 teams as a number or 10 and they are strong? I still believe we should have more teams but not any teams. The right teams. It’s not about the number, it’s about the quality.”
Sulaymen said – without specifying – that there are several teams that are struggling and could stand to be overhauled. Truth is, teams like Haas, Alpine, and Red Bull haven’t been at the top of their game, making them potential options for a buyout.
“It’s about having the right team, not to lose a chance or an opportunity where someone like GM with a PU [power unit] is coming to Formula One,” Sulaymen said. “Imagine the impact. We have three races in America. We have such a huge fan base. But we don’t have a proper [U.S.-based] team. I’m so happy to have Ford in [building engines in 2026] but imagine having GM and imagine having American drivers.”
For its part, Andretti Cadillac doesn’t seem interested in buying out another team. The organization is well on its way to making Caddy a threat on the grid, and is preparing for competition as soon as 2026.
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Comments
Haas just shut down the Stewart Haas Racing Nascar team. Gene hasn’t been competitive in F1 and dropped Guenther. That would be the one to go after in my opinion. The two American businessmen (Haas and Andretti) should get in conversations now.
That is an option.
Main point to consider: by buying out an existing team, you buy the slot this team owns in the F1 pit lane and starting grid.
No need to take over the acutal factory and personnel.
I know a lot of fans love Steiner because of his time on Drive to Survive, but is it really a loss to Haas F1, to have dropped him? In his eight years as Team Principle at Haas F1, the team never even managed one podium (top 3) finish. Haas F1 is a team built by Steiner, not Gene Haas or Joe Custer (Haas COO)., and no other F1 team came running to hire him when he left. If you weren’t aware, he’s now a commentator for German TV.
They’ve approached Gene Haas multiple times and he’s consistently said the team is not for sale…period. Same goes for the other teams.
As for Guenther, he was much better at self promotion than he was at running a competitive F1 team. His dismissal was long overdue.
Buy an existing team is an easy out for the FIA and FOM, especially considering no teams are currently for sale, and the price would be in the billion plus range for a subpar team with antiquated facilities. One of the reasons that teams like Williams, Alpine haven’t been successful in years is because they don’t have the quality personal other teams have, and they’re working out of old facilities with outdated equipment. Andretti has made it clear he intends to have the best people he can get working for him, in a new modern building (already under construction), and with the most up to date high tech equipment available, not someone else’s castoff tired old operation.
This all comes down to the ten existing teams not wanting to have to split the prize fund with an eleventh team, and the FIA and Liberty Media not wanting to increase the prize fund to accommodate an eleventh team. I suspect the bad impression Andretti left with everyone after his short time in F1 back in 93, may also have something to do with their reluctance to accept his team. At the time he was accused of not fully committing to F1, which sounds an awful lot like one part of the explanation given for why Andretti’s application was rejected.
Nailed it perfectly.
FIA should reexamine their attitude. Why are they pimping for somebody that wants to get out? In the racing world there’s always been concern about their intentions. This is no different.
F1 needs to accept Andretti/Cadillac and pay for it out of their revenue. Then, the existing teams don’t have a beef, and Liberty Media can avoid another court case.