Cadillac boss says F1 should add more teams: ‘This is not a franchise sport’

Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon says Formula 1 should add a 12th team and make it a full World Championship.

Having been at 10 teams since 2016, Formula 1 will add an eleventh outfit in the form of Cadillac for 2026, but Lowdon says that number should continue to grow.

Cadillac boss urges F1 to add more teams

The current Concorde Agreement permits 12 teams, though currently only 11 have been filled.

Cadillac is the most recent, having been successful during an expression of interest process (when the project was known as Andretti) that saw several other submissions, including Hitech, LkySunz, and Rodin.

Even Andretti, which initially satisfied the FIA, was subsequently rejected by FOM, only for it to backflip on that following pressure from the United States Department of Justice.

That coincided with changes within the Andretti project, which became known as Cadillac – even if precious little else (including funding and ownership) changed.

As time ticks down until its first race, Lowdon was asked whether F1 should add more teams, and his answer was a resounding yes.

“It’s a World Championship,” he told select media, including PlanetF1.com. “I often look at the parallel to the Olympics as well.

“This is not a franchise sport. This is a true World Championship, the best in the world meet and compete. The best teams, the best drivers.

“Formula 1, for me, is the greatest team sport in the world. You’ve got 1,000 players on each side, all in their place. My job is to get the best 1,000 players, and make sure that they’re in right place on the pitch.

“You can’t call Formula 1 the pinnacle of the sport unless it is a true World Championship.

“You get the best in the world. You call them together, and they compete, and in the same way that I think the world, the fans would feel a bit short changed, if you had 100 metre final, and if it was only me and you and we said ‘I tell you what, we’ll just get together and we won’t actually let anyone else race, because then we’ll both get a medal guaranteed.'”

Lowdon stressed that he did not think everyone and anyone should be allowed to join, saying that all new entrants must show they are ready for the rigours of the sport.

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“Building Formula 1 cars is not an easy job, and therefore, it’s quite right that the process should be rigorous.

“I said before it was 764 days [to apply to get in] and that was 764 days of a really rigorous process. I have no problem with that at all.

“I think to get into the pinnacle of motorsport, you need to demonstrate that but it has to be achievable. And I think for the sake of the fans, the grid should be full.”

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