Five reasons why Cadillac x Ferrari makes so much sense

Now that Cadillac’s Formula 1 endeavor has received provisional approval, the General Motors brand has wasted no time in securing its initial partnerships ahead of its 2026 debut, starting with its power unit manufacturer.

This week, Cadillac F1 announced its intentions to run with Ferrari power units from its debut in 2026 until it can provide its own equipment — sometime before the end of the decade. And believe it or not, it’s a partnership that makes a lot of sense.

Ferrari isn’t a direct Cadillac F1 competitor…

The act of racing is only one small element of a team entering a motorsport series; there are a ton of economic and logistical concerns that need to be sorted out before an automaker even considers competing — and there are also countless strategic partnerships that need to fall into place.

While Cadillac intends to develop its own power units in the future, the GM brand won’t be able to do so immediately. It needed a power unit supplier — and it would have ideally wanted to partner with a company against which it wasn’t directly competing in the automotive marketplace.

Cadillac is a luxury automotive manufacturer, but an attainable one. When you buy a Cadillac, you know you’re investing in a quality product, but it’s still a product that an Average Joe can afford.

In Formula 1, Mercedes holds a similar role. The German brand produces a variety of consumer vehicles, and there are plenty that a person can buy with a little determination and a bit of cash saved — and that means Cadillac would be doing itself a disservice by aligning with Mercedes. It would effectively be advertising its own competition.

Now, other PU makers like Honda would exist just outside of the luxury automotive market, but Cadillac would have opted against them for other reasons.

… But Ferrari will boost Cadillac’s image abroad

Namely, Honda doesn’t have the same prestige as Ferrari.

A significant element of Cadillac’s goals in Formula 1 has nothing to do with racing: Rather, the American brand is working hard to expand its international footprint. That means it will be particularly well-suited to align itself with a prestigious brand.

We’ve already ruled out Mercedes as a potential option. That leaves Honda and Ferrari. Which brand has greater prestige?

The answer is easy: Ferrari.

While we’ll dig into some other reasons why Cadillac would have ruled out Honda below, the primary one to consider here is the fact that Ferrari is iconic. It’s the kind of brand that instills a fiery passion in its fans, and it builds the kind of aspirational, high-performance supercars that have been coveted by car enthusiasts for decades.

If Cadillac is trying to situate itself in the luxury market over in Europe, it’s going to benefit from tying itself to Ferrari’s esteem.

Get up to speed on the Cadillac F1 project:

👉 Cadillac F1: Everything you need to know about the new 11th team

👉 Four reasons why GM’s huge F1 arrival makes so much sense

Ferrari provides fewer conflicts of interest

Chevrolet, a fellow General Motors brand, is one of two engine suppliers in the American IndyCar Series. The other supplier? Honda.

The IndyCar rivalry between Honda and Chevy is fierce and is often accompanied by a slew of hard feelings. GM’s involvement in the series is strongly tied to Roger Penske, the man who owns both the series and a highly competitive team. Honda is often left feeling as if it’s getting the short end of the stick when it comes to regulatory changes.

That IndyCar conflict alone would likely have raised some serious issues between Honda and GM. Much better to stick with Ferrari, where there will be no such significant concerns.

Ferrari provides some much-needed stability in Formula 1

Of any power unit supplier, Ferrari has lasted the longest in Formula 1, and it’s reasonable to assume that the Italian brand intends to continue competing in F1 for a long time coming. That in and of itself would be a serious selling point for any team looking to enter F1.

Even if Honda hadn’t represented a conflict of interest for a GM brand, Cadillac would have done well to shy away from a company whose involvement in F1 has been fickle at best. Honda regularly threatens to leave the sport, and when it has participated in F1, its engines haven’t always performed up to snuff. (Need we revisit the “GP2 engine” days of the mid-2010s McLaren-Honda?)

Cadillac doesn’t intend to be a customer team for long, but there’s a much stronger case to be made for the longevity of a Ferrari PU compared to anything else.

Mario Andretti has longstanding ties with Ferrari

On his debut with the Ferrari Formula 1 team in 1971, Mario Andretti secured a victory in what would be the start of a brief but fruitful partnership.

The Italian-born Andretti may not be in charge of Cadillac’s F1 operation, but he’ll still hold an ambassadorial role with the team that was intended to bear his name. Earlier this year, he expressed a preference for the Caddy team to bear Ferrari engines, and it seems that wish has come true for the former World Champion.

Of course, being born in Italy, Andretti has always expressed a kinship with the Scuderia, but it was a kinship that turned into a professional career.

After moving to America, Andretti started racing competitively in the 1960s; by the end of the decade, he had impressed Colin Chapman of Team Lotus to such an extent that he entered a few races with the outfit — though each one ended in retirement.

In 1971, he signed with Ferrari on a part-time basis and went on to win the season opening race at Kyalami. Three weeks later, he represented Ferrari in the non-championship Questor Grand Prix, taking yet another win for Ferrari.

His part-time status with the marque only lasted two years. In F1, he went full-time with Parnelli before swapping over to Lotus — the team that ultimately brought him his 1978 World Championship.

Though Andretti’s name may no longer be proudly emblazoned on the side of Cadillac’s race cars, the signing of Ferrari to an operation that Mario Andretti will casually represent is a full-circle moment for the highly decorated motorsport veteran.

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