F1: Andretti/Cadillac effort will get rejected if only a ‘badging’ exercise (2nd Update)

Behind the scenes, we understand F1 is in talks with the likes of Porsche, Ford and Hyundai with regard to a possible entry. You do not hear from any of these parties with regard to their bids.

F1 team owners are unhappy that Andretti has gone so public with his bid and that the Cadillac deal is not going to result in a new engine manufacturer in the sport.

Now that Liberty Media built an exploding upward sport, it feels they should be attracting major manufacturers, and not just in name only, as is the case with GM and Andretti.

We will repeat what we said before, this rumor of Cadillac doing a new engine with Ilmor for the Andretti Global team for 2026 is likely going to have to turn out true, if the Andrettis are going to gain acceptance into F1.

Americans want to see the Andretti team make it in F1, but with F1 being a European closed-door club, that seems unlikely unless they bring a new engine designed by Cadillac and Ilmor to the table. If they do that, they are a shoe-in.

Mark C. reporting for AutoRacing1.com

Referring to the Andretti/Cadillac announcement, one team boss who did not wish to be identified told Autosport: “There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors.”

“If a team comes in with an OEM and says this is what we want to do, it’s obviously a very different game. And will trigger different considerations.,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

Well Andretti did that with Cadillac, but they said they had signed with an existing engine supplier, meaning Cadillac would badge a Renault or Honda.

Therefore, rivals DO NOT view the GM entry as a game-changing new OEM effort in F1, but more akin to a straight sponsorship deal as Alfa Romeo has done at Sauber in recent years, or when TAG-Heuer badged the Renault engines in the past.

Hence, why this rumor of Cadillac doing a new engine with Ilmor for the Andretti Global team for 2026 is likely going to have to turn out true, if the Andrettis are going to gain acceptance into F1.

Michael Andretti appears to have ticked all the right boxes with his plan to enter Formula One with General Motors brand Cadillac and an all-American team, but team bosses are pushing back hard because it appears to just be a badging exercise.

“One of the big things was ‘what does Andretti bring to the party?’,” Andretti told reporters on Thursday’s video call announcing the Andretti Global tie-up with GM and plans for an ‘all-American’ team.

“Well, we’re bringing one of the biggest manufacturers in the world now with General Motors and Cadillac. We feel that that was the one box we didn’t have checked that we do have checked now.”

Maybe not.

If the FIA is now willing to open an ‘expressions of interest’ process, which will take some time, the decision will not be decided by the governing body alone nor based solely on credibility.

Andretti must convince the teams and Liberty Media-owned Formula One, which has seemed increasingly at odds with the FIA under that body’s new president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, that it is in their interests.

The preference is for Cadillac to bring their own engine into F1, not simply slap a badge on a Renault or a Honda like Alfa Romeo/Sauber does with the Ferrari engine.

One senior team source told Reuters that the chances of Andretti being accepted remained “highly unlikely” and a “strong majority” of current competitors were very opposed to any expansion.

They also feel the entry fee should be $500 million, not $200 million.

“I do think they are credible but I need to see a higher entry point,” the team source told Reuters.

“I think the only chance anyone has of getting in is to pay a much larger entry fee.”

Rumor – Cadillac May do Their Own Engine with Ilmor

As we wrote in this article over the weekend, there is a strong case for the Andretti Cadillac team to badge a Renault if they begin racing in F1 before 2026, but if their entry is delayed until 2026 when the new engines come onboard. That may change.

A strong case can be made that Cadillac will produce a new engine in conjunction with Ilmor.

GM and Ilmor work together on the design and development of the Chevy IndyCar engine, and Ilmor has their fingers all over current F1 engines (as the article points out) and are quite ready to build a 2026 F1 engine in conjunction with GM/Cadillac.

Alternately, if Honda is leaving F1 after 2025 when their deal with Red Bull ends, then Cadillac doing an engine in conjunction with Honda and keeping them in the sport is just as positive for F1 as a Cadillac/Ilmor designed engine. In fact even more so in that two car manufacturers are involved – Cadillac and Honda.

Mark Cipolloni (aka Mark C.) reporting for AutoRacing1.com