Auto heavyweights Andretti, GM team up to race on Formula 1’s global stage

Two icons of the U.S. auto world, Andretti Global and General Motors Co.’s Cadillac, are teaming up to race in the world’s most prestigious, open-wheel, motor-racing series, Formula 1.

The bombshell news Thursday came as Formula 1 and Cadillac are making major pushes in new markets, and dovetails with retired race-car driver Michael Andretti’s ambitions to follow in the footsteps of his famous father, Mario Andretti, to conquer F1 with an American team.

The move also comes as GM is accelerating its commitment to global motorsport: Cadillac is pursuing victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year with a new, prototype sports car, and the Chevrolet brand’s Corvette Z06 GT3 race car will be available for private teams to race across the globe in 2024.

Andretti Autosport team owner Michael Andretti, right, congratulates his driver Colton Herta after winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg IndyCar race April 25, 2021, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Still, Formula 1 is a major step as the world’s most expensive and technologically-advanced form of motorsport. American involvement in Formula 1 in recent decades has been sporadic with few U.S. brands making the commitment. Ford Motor Co. was last American F1 competitor with its then-Jaguar brand from 2000-04 (under the management of American Bobby Rahal for 2001), and Mario Andretti was the last American to win an F1 championship in 1978. No U.S. driver currently races in the series.

But the time seems ripe for both GM and Andretti. F1 has surged in interest in the U.S. in recent years with three Grand Prix on the schedule for 2023: Austin, Miami and Las Vegas. Furthermore, the series has championed electrified racing with a promise for zero-emission racing by 2026 — an ambition that dovetails with GM’s Zero-Zero-Zero mantra (zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion), with Cadillac taking the lead as GM’s first global all-electric brand.

“General Motors is honored to team with Andretti Global on this historic moment in racing,” GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement. “Cadillac and F1 both have growing global appeal. Our brand has a motorsports pedigree that’s more than a century in the making, and we would be proud to have the opportunity to bring our distinct American innovation and design to F1.”