Cadillac wants to enter Formula 1 with Andretti Global [Updated]
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Update, 1:15 pm ET: Although I said I'd be surprised if Cadillac rebadged someone else's engine instead of building its own, that's exactly what the plan is, at least to begin with. GM President Mark Reuss told Autosport, "We have a signed agreement with a power unit supplier to begin with." However, it sounds like a Cadillac-designed engine may happen in time, perhaps for the 2026 season. "As we move forward, we bring a lot of our expertise to create things for the future as well," Reuss said.
Original story: The world of Formula 1 got a shock on Thursday morning when General Motors announced it has plans to enter the championship. GM wants to go F1 racing with its Cadillac brand, partnering with a new Andretti Global team, assuming the sport's organizing body accepts the entry.
F1 has been fixed at 10 teams since Haas joined the sport in 2016. Since then, the series has introduced a new budget cap that has reined in some of the crazier budgets and made the prospect of operating an F1 team much less of a financial black hole. The exact amount of the cost cap is adjusted depending on how many races are planned for a year-for 2023, that should be $138.6 million-and even finishing in 10th place earns a team enough money to cover about 70 percent of those costs.