By joining F1, General Motors has a chance to become the American team on the grid

Monday marked a huge step for American motorsports. But can it be turned into a victory?

Formula 1 announced that it has ‘concluded an agreement in principle with General Motors’, the well-known American manufacturer, to compete in 2026. It will be the first time that there have been more than ten teams on the grid since 2016. and GM already calls it the Cadillac Formula 1 team its press release.

Once the application is completed, GM will have two cars on the grid, but will first need to be a customer team, purchasing an engine from one of the existing Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) as the company continues to work on building its own power source. The aim is to be a factory team by the end of the decade.

There have been American aspects in F1 before. Ford left the sport as an engine manufacturer in 2004 and will return in 2026 with a technical partnership with Red Bull. Haas is the current American team, although it has most of its operations in Europe, and there is no American driver on the grid after Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant last season.

However, GM and Cadillac are poised to become a truly all-American F1 team as operations are largely based in the US and interest has been expressed in potentially signing an American driver. Interest in the sport has grown rapidly in this country for several reasons since the COVID-19 pandemic, and given the sporting culture in the United States, GM faces a unique opportunity to capture a market that thrives on national pride in the competition. .

Can General Motors take F1 fandom to the next level and strengthen the sport’s strong position in America?

GO DEEPER

General Motors enters the grid: why F1 changed its tune after Andretti’s ouster

A look at F1’s American tires

F1 is no stranger to the US

The car raced at Watkins Glen International (from 1961-1980) and had stints in Long Beach, California (1976-1983), Detroit (1982-1988) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1950-60, 2000-2007). The international motorsport series competed at nine American circuits over the years before leaving the country after the 2007 United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis. But then came Circuit of the Americas, which entered the calendar in 2012 and became the American Grand Prix brought back.

Then came Colorado-based Liberty Media, which took over F1 in 2017. The company modernized F1 and expanded its digital presence, opening up an area long considered a closed sport. The Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive” debuted in 2019, but launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving people around the world a behind-the-scenes look at the rivalry, teams and drivers. As interest in the sport grew, F1 expanded its reach in the US, adding Miami (2022) and Las Vegas (2023) to the calendar.

Haas has tried to become ‘America’s Team’ with its liveries, but the fact remains that it is largely a European operation. (Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

However, as far as a true American team goes, there have been few in the history of F1. Haas joined in 2016 and it was the first American team since 1986, when unrelated Haas Lola last competed. Haas has ties to NASCAR and Kannapolis, North Carolina, but its F1 racing operation in Europe is largely over. It’s a global approach and Haas still leans on its American identity, such as the eagle on the side of the car at the 2024 US Grand Prix.

But it does raise questions about how American the team is.

“We want to be the American global team,” former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner once said The Athletics. “You have to be proud of your identity, but not just use it because that’s what makes us great, because you too can fail. If you do it poorly, you won’t make America proud.”

GO DEEPER

Haas is ‘at home’ in Miami, but how American is F1’s only American team?

Then there is the case of the drivers. The most recent American on the F1 grid was Sargeant, who scored one point in his 36 Grands Prix with Williams, and there is an extensive history of Americans competing in F1 dating back to the 1950s – people like Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Mario Andretti and Scott Speed.

Mario Andretti remains the winningest American F1 driver ever. (Tony Duffy/Allsport via Getty Images)

Making an international name

Of course, one thing Haas hasn’t done to capture the imagination of American fans is win in F1. In 188 F1 races across nine seasons, Haas has zero podium finishes and just 299 points overall, never finishing higher than fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Will General Motors do better? The company has extensive success in motorsports, including 1,199 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series with Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Chevrolet has won nearly two and a half times as many NASCAR manufacturer titles as Ford, with 43, and 13 Indianapolis 500s.

But when it comes to international motorsport, GM hasn’t been a major player, apart from nine class wins at Le Mans. But now that it is racing in F1 under the Cadillac brand, it has potential and an edge over rival Ford, which will be with Red Bull as a technical partner but not as a team owner. There will likely be pressure on GM to deliver results relatively quickly.

GO DEEPER

GM’s entry into F1 is a major victory for the legendary American motorsport brand

From an operational perspective, the project has continued to hire in various departments even after Andretti’s offer was initially rejected. However, the activities are not all concentrated in one location. Cadillac F1 will operate in Silverstone, England; Fishermen, Indiana; Warren, MI; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The base in England is no surprise as it keeps the team at the heart of the F1 world and has been active for months. The other locations, however, are located in the various power centers of American motorsports. GM has a technical center in Warren and Charlotte, and Andretti plans to use Fishers as its global headquarters.

Then there are the drivers, who could broaden the appeal of the all-American team.

During the initial bidding process, the desire was expressed to have at least one American driver. However, there is no news on the drivers – not just names, but whether GM wants two rookies, two veterans or a mix. This could open the door for the likes of Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen or Colapinto, who will not have a full-time seat next year. Or could American drivers like Sargeant, Formula 2’s Jak Crawford or IndyCar’s Colton Herta (depending on the super license) be in the mix? There is a wealth of talent to pull from different series.

Four years after the initial “Drive to Survive” boom, GM and Cadillac will give American fans a team they can identify with, especially if an American driver is signed and success follows. There is an opportunity we can capitalize on in the US market, and General Motors could well achieve that feat.

Italians rally around Ferrari. Will GM become the American team?

(Photo: Clive Rose – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images; Design: Dan Goldfarb/The Athletics)