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The Cadillac Formula 1 team will have the joint-highest aerodynamic development allocation in 2025, as its work is no longer unrestricted as of January 1.
F1’s 11th team, which is still awaiting final approval of its entry being publicly confirmed, will join the grid in 2026 after a long-running effort to convince the commercial rights holder to grant it a spot on the grid.
What started as Michael Andretti’s F1 project has morphed, for now at least, into a full Cadillac-branded team with General Motors behind it and Andretti not involved.
His eponymous organisation Andretti Global has been ‘replaced’ by TWG Global in recognition of the change of management, with Andretti’s former business partner Dan Towriss now effectively in charge and US billionaire and sports investor Mark Walter, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and Chelsea Football Club, backing it.
The UK-based company operating the team, Andretti Formula Racing, has also been officially renamed Cadillac Formula Racing with the UK government’s companies registrar Companies House.
This all reflects the progress that was finally made in getting the entry over the line, with a mix of factors – Andretti’s exit, GM’s greater commitment, and the existence of a US federal investigation into the rejection of the original Andretti Cadillac proposal – leading to the breakthrough.
Though it is still subject to final confirmation, Cadillac’s F1 preparations continue at pace. Most recently, ex-Virgin/Marussia/Manor boss Graeme Lowdon – who has played a key role in advising the Andretti-turned-Cadillac project – was confirmed as team principal.
The team that has been put together in the UK has been working on a baseline 2026 car for several months.
It has been free to do this with zero windtunnel or CFD testing impediment because F1’s initial rejection of its entry meant it was not subject to any of the regulatory restrictions that exist – including the ban on 2026 aerodynamic testing that other teams were working under until January 1 2025.
Cadillac was also under no obligation to adhere to budget cap limitations although, as with the theoretically unlimited aero testing possibilities, the size of the team naturally limits how much work can be conducted anyway.
It is understood that working out how to impose restrictions on Cadillac was discussed at an F1 Commission meeting prior to the news that it had struck an agreement in principle to join the grid.
The aerodynamic testing restrictions allow the teams that finish lower in the championship to conduct more windtunnel and CFD work.
Cadillac will be treated as an ‘equal-last’ team in 2025. Along with Sauber, which finished last in the constructors’ championship in 2024, Cadillac will get 115% of the baseline amount.
That is 5% more than Williams, 10% more than Racing Bulls and 15% more than Haas – all teams that Cadillac would, assuming it is targeting midfield respectability, like to be fighting when it enters in 2026.
Although Cadillac has had, on paper, a fantastic advantage for the last few months to conduct its testing without any limitation, existing teams are not worried because the finalised technical regulations haven’t been set and Cadillac should not have had access to what was being discussed – only the provisional rules that had been published.
Opposition teams therefore believe that this ‘headstart’ has only mitigated the worst of how much work Cadillac has to do.
Another reason they do not believe it confers an advantage in reality is because of the scale of the task facing the Cadillac team, which had a group of around 280 people working full-time on the project at the end of 2024 – the majority being technical recruits as design work has the longest lead time.
Similarly, while the team will be subject to the same budget cap as others in 2025, that only rules out the most extreme benefits that could have been gained (e.g. the team somehow having the capacity to develop, build and extensively test a 2026 mule car).
One team boss called it a “monumental task” and said “even if there was a small headstart, it will balance out very quickly”.
Where Cadillac will have a more tangible advantage is that its sole focus will be on the new rules in 2026 while its rivals are fighting a championship on-track in 2025, and spending as little development and money on the current season at the same time.
This means all of Cadillac’s budget and ATR can go towards 2026 where others will be split – but making use of that depends on having a team big enough and mature enough, and access to the relevant facilities.
There will be some gains through Cadillac’s Ferrari customer engine deal. Though that arrangement will not be a Haas-style dependency, taking everything F1’s rules allow, the arrangement will include a supply of gearboxes and the rear suspension, which is a significant amount of work that Cadillac will not have to undertake itself.
Cadillac only intends to be an engine customer as an interim solution. General Motors originally targeted a 2028 debut for its engine but now says it will have its own works engine by the end of the decade.
Were GM already preparing an engine for the next couple of years it would, like the team itself, have benefitted from a temporary period of no limitations while awaiting an entry to be confirmed.
Instead, whatever the target timeline now, GM will be subject to engine development restrictions like other engine manufacturers – it will not have unlimited time and money to spend.
