Cadillac’s path to Formula 1 has not been easy. An initial outlay estimated at $450 million opened the doors to the “Great Circus.” The main brands no longer shy away from this sport, where the value of each of the teams exceeds 1 billion dollars.
The 2026 Formula 1 season was called to be the beginning of a cycle due to the change in regulations, which usually completely revolutionizes the the state in whichbut it will also mark the beginning of a new financial era, marked by the entry of Cadillac and the return of Ford as an engine supplier.
Cadillac, which will debut next season, comes after the rejection of an alliance formed in 2023 between Andretti Global and General Motors (GM) that was not approved until March, once Michael Andretti’s departure from a leadership role was formalized and GM expressed a more direct commitment to the project.
Along with these decisions, the entry of Cadillac required the payment of an antidilution fee of 450 million dollars, according to specialized media, in compensation to the rest of the teams for the part of income that will begin to be divided among eleven teams.
Formula 1 revenues amounted to $3.65 billion in 2024, the fourth consecutive annual increase, and about 50% of that amount is distributed among the teams that make up the “Great Circus” based on their performance, indicate data from Liberty Media, owner of Formula 1.
This increase in income was also seen in the value of the teams. All of them exceeded 1,000 million dollars in 2024, according to data from Sportico, which estimates that the average of the ten teams was 2,300 million.
The value of McLaren, for example, multiplied by more than seven between 2020 and 2025, according to minority stake sales data, which recently valued the brand at more than 5 billion
Also read: Who drives Cadillac, ‘Checo’ Pérez’s new team in F1?
Pilots with experience and bases in the US and the United Kingdom
In the midst of this increase in income, Cadillac’s initial investment is also higher than what the rest of the teams made at the time, and goes beyond the initial expense it made to enter the competition.
The team will have a spending ceiling for its first season of up to $135 million, complying with regulations for all teams, but this does not include the salaries of the drivers or those of the three highest-paid employees, among other things.
In the case of the American squad, those chosen to represent it in its debut in Formula 1 were the Finnish Valtteri Bottas and the Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez, whose salaries exceeded 20 million dollars, together, in the 2024 season, according to Forbes.
In addition, Cadillac hired Graeme Lowdon, former executive director of the Virgin and Marussia Formula 1 teams, as team manager, and is snatching engineers from other teams already established in the elite.
The team will also have a factory in Silverstone, in the United Kingdom, which Lowdon himself maintained will be of great help during the season at a logistical level, although he maintained that the team is American, with factories in North Carolina and Michigan, and its headquarters in Indiana.
The United States, an untapped market for F1
Cadillac will be the second American team on the grid after Haas, and its incorporation occurs at a time of growing interest in this competition in the United States, especially promoted since the arrival of Liberty Media in 2017.
The media conglomerate boosted the U.S. market over the past eight years, during which it increased the number of races on U.S. tracks. In 2021, Austin was the only city to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and now Miami and Las Vegas are also part of the calendar.
In addition, the marketing company AMW estimates that the Formula 1 television audience in the country grew by 54% between 2018 and 2023, when it reached 1.2 million.
The addition of Miami and Las Vegas to the calendar, as well as the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” which since 2018 has documented the teams’ season from the inside, were two of the main factors for this popularity.
Apart from GM’s entry into the grid through Cadillac, another of the main American car manufacturers, Ford, will return to Formula 1 next year as an engine supplier for Red Bull.
With information from EFE
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