Exclusive
Why the new Cadillac F1 team will be looking to fight Red Bull Racing
- Ludo van Denderen
The new Cadillac Formula 1 Team is not hiding its ambition to win races and even become world champions when it arrives in the sport in 2026. The competition has been warned, especially the Red Bull Racing team.
For the European car enthusiast, General Motors will surely be a familiar name, even though many of the company's cars are not seen on the streets there. Brands like Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet are hardly available in Europe. GM's focus is currently on the US and Asian markets. Yet, General Motors still wants to start spending billions on its own Formula 1 team and power unit. There are, of course, several reasons behind this.
'Cadillac wants to grow as a brand'
Director on the board Mario Andretti sat down for an exclusive interview with GPblog: "It's like anything else, the world is getting smaller and smaller. So the Cadillac brand is known worldwide, and that their objectives are to expand that and be able to if you're anywhere in the world you want to have a Cadillac, you're going to have [it]."
In other words, Cadillac is keen to return to markets where it is currently barely visible. A second reason for General Motors to get into F1 is the sport's increased popularity in the United States. "I think it is very important [to have an American team]," Andretti said.
"As popular as Formula One is at the moment in an international arena, you want to be able [as a country and a brand] to showcase what you have, and this is one way to do it. So no better way to do it than in the centre, like Bernie would say, a historic moment, to have a manufacturer like General Motors with the Cadillac brand for the first time ever officially being involved in Formula One."
The rivalry between General Motors and Ford
Nobody says it out loud, but the fact that Ford will also be in Formula 1 from 2026 must have been a major trigger for GM to get in. After all, Ford is its great rival. Although Ford will 'only' partner Red Bull and GM will thus have its own team entirely, the rivalry between the two brands will be huge, Andretti expects.
"It's good stuff. Competition provides the best on all sides. You're always looking at somebody that potentially is better than you, but you want to be the best. And that's what it's all about in the competitive world." Concluded the 1978 world champion.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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