Cadillac respond to F1 rejection of F1 Andretti entry as project continues ‘at pace’

Andretti’s automotive partner General Motors has commented on F1’s rejection of the Andretti-Cadillac team entry until, at the earliest, 2028.

At the end of January, F1 issued a statement to confirm that, for now, the sport’s commercial rights holder has no interest in admitting the burgeoning Andretti-Cadillac onto the grid, despite the FIA having approved the American team as passing its initial assessments.

Andretti, headed up by Michael Andretti and having formed a partnership with automotive giant General Motors through the Cadillac brand, hasn’t given up on the project and is still gearing up its operation with an eye to entry in 2026.

General Motors respond to F1 rejection

The lengthy rejection letter issued by F1 called into question the potential competitiveness of the project, as well as highlighting that Andretti would likely need to call upon a regulatory rule to force an existing engine supplier to give them an engine until Cadillac had a power unit ready for use.

However, F1 has left a small olive branch extended, indicating Andretti and Cadillac could be of interest for the grid once Cadillac has a power unit ready for use by Andretti and other customer teams.

With Andretti having issued a statement in response to F1’s rejection, General Motors’ vice president of performance and motorsport Jim Campbell has commented on the matter.

Campbell said GM, as well as Andretti, have full confidence that – contrary to F1’s stated reasoning – Andretti can field a competitive car from the get-go.

“In terms of our application with Andretti, we feel great about our application,” said Campbell, as quoted by Motorsport.com, from Daytona.

“The FIA studied it against other applicants and then gave our application a vote of confidence and approval.

“So, obviously, FOM made their statement, and we have asked for a follow-up meeting with FOM, and so we will work through that.

“We do believe between Andretti and Cadillac that we have got the capability of fielding a competitive entry.

“We are not saying that it is easy but we do, between our two organisations, have examples in our history of where we have been successful in other motorsports categories, and that is true of Cadillac and Andretti.

“With that said, our joint teams are continuing to develop our car at pace. So, that is where we are at.”

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General Motors ‘confident in the application and abilities of Andretti and Cadillac’

With F1’s rejection letter suggesting that Andretti and Cadillac were underestimating the extent of the engineering and sporting challenge in front of them, particularly with a different ruleset incoming for 2026, Campbell said GM had not been insulted by the stance taken by F1.

“As I said, we believe in the application we submitted,” he said.

“And in that application, we articulated the abilities of both Andretti as a race team and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity.

“So, we feel confident in the application and are asking for a meeting with FOM.”

But, given that F1 indicated the team’s entry could be approved based on Cadillac’s readiness, Campbell said the regulations laid down by the FIA – who had approved the entry – prevented the manufacturer from shifting their own timelines forward from having an engine ready for 2028.

“When you register to be a power unit, there is a deadline to do that, and for us, it was last June for 2028,” he said.

“If you wanted to develop an engine sooner, then you would have had to register the previous year for that. So, it’s simply a regulation.”

The latest official statement from Andretti confirmed that their work on preparing a car for entry as soon as 2026, “continues at pace”.

“We were not aware that the offer of a meeting had been extended and would not decline a meeting with Formula One Management,” said the statement.

“An in-person meeting to discuss commercial matters would be and remains of paramount importance to Andretti Cadillac.

“We welcome the opportunity to meet with Formula One Management and have written to them confirming our interest.”

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