The smile on Jim Campbell’s face shone brighter than the neon lights inside the Formula One paddock in Las Vegas.
Though General Motors’ vice president for performance and motorsports wouldn’t confirm the impending good news for his Cadillac brand on Saturday night, Campbell’s unerasable grin revealed the lack of a poker face that would have made him go bust at one of the nearby casinos.
GM and Cadillac are on track to join F1 in a major way, with official confirmation on Monday that the manufacturer and business partner Dan Towriss have an agreement in principle with F1 to field the long-discussed 11th team on the grid in 2026.
Not only will the Cadillac F1 Team join F1 with two cars if its application is finalized, but it will also create its own engine and become a works team by the end of the decade.
That represents a massive new motorsports investment by GM, which has seen decades of success in racing — but largely on a domestic level.
GM brands Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick have not only accounted for the most wins in NASCAR history (nearly 1,200 in the Cup Series), but no one else is particularly close. Chevrolet alone has won the NASCAR manufacturer’s championship a whopping 43 times; Ford is next with 17.
Chevrolet has also won 13 Indianapolis 500s and has a history that dates back to the inaugural Indy 500. Arthur Chevrolet drove in that first 1911 race, then formed the car company with his two brothers later that year.
Though GM has long participated in sports car racing with Cadillac and Corvette, which has nine class wins at Le Mans, it is regarded as a minor player in international motorsports despite being a powerhouse automaker around the world.
That now stands to change. With apologies to the American-owned Haas F1 Team, which has little U.S. connection aside from Gene Haas himself, a GM/Cadillac team would become the flag-bearer for the United States on the international stage.
“As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence,” GM president Mark Reuss said. “It’s an honor for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world.
“This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.”
Those words from Reuss might make NASCAR and its fans blanch, as GM’s association with motorsports includes a deep bond with stock car racing. But according to the company, GM manufactures vehicles in 37 different countries; no racing series on the planet comes close to reflecting a brand’s international impact as F1 does.
That makes this a tremendous coup for GM, particularly since it one-ups American rival Ford in its presence on the F1 grid. Ford has already announced a partnership with Red Bull, in which it will build an engine beginning in 2026 — but not own the team itself.
Meanwhile, Cadillac will be a works team that builds the car and engine itself. Factory teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes don’t have to rely on a supplier, as Haas does in purchasing its power units from Ferrari.
Though there will certainly be growing pains, imagine if the effort is ultimately successful: An American manufacturer winning races or even competing for a championship in the F1 spotlight would do wonders for its global reputation — something not even Le Mans can match in today’s motorsports landscape.
Simply put, this seems like the right opportunity at the right time for GM. American interest in F1, owned by Colorado-based Liberty Media, has exploded. There are three grands prix per year in the United States. Ratings and attendance have continued to climb, and corporate sponsors can’t open their wallets quickly enough.
Conversely, a true stars-and-stripes presence in F1 can only help with the interest levels that could further elevate the relatively nascent American fan base.
As Liberty president and CEO Greg Maffei put it: “With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the U.S., we have always believed that welcoming an impressive U.S. brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport.”
GM will always have a chance to win more NASCAR championships and Indianapolis 500s with Chevrolet. But there’s no rocket ship to international appeal like F1, and now it appears GM is strapping in for the ride.
Top photo: AP Photo/David Goldman
