The American automaker’s quest to become the sport’s 11th team began two years ago. It joins the grid in 2026.
In every sense, the clock is ticking on Cadillac’s entry into Formula 1 next year.
In March, Cadillac, supported by General Motors and TWG Motorsports, received final approval from Formula 1, expanding the grid to 11 teams for the first time since 2016.
“As soon as we got the entry, one of the things that changed is they put up a countdown clock at the factory in Silverstone,” Dan Towriss, the chief executive of TWG Motorsports, said in an interview in April. The company is a division of TWG Global, which has a sports portfolio that includes the Chelsea Football Club and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers.
“We know exactly how many days to the engine’s fired, how many days to the first race,” he said. “That’s how we have to think about it because there’s so much work to do between now and then. It’s moving faster than I want it to.”
The Cadillac entry started life as Andretti Formula Racing two years ago. The F.I.A., the governing body of Formula 1, approved the proposal from Michael Andretti, the initial force behind the bid. A few months later, it was rejected by Formula 1.
In an interview a year ago with The New York Times, Andretti said he would fight. Last fall, he stepped back as chief executive of Andretti Global, which owns teams in IndyCar, Formula E, Extreme E and Australian Supercars. He decided “it was time to pass the baton” to his business partner Towriss.
“From Michael’s standpoint, he was very magnanimous in a way,” said Towriss, who has known Andretti since 2017. “He didn’t want to stand in the way of this project.