Following the ‘agreement in principal’ for Cadillac to join the 2026 grid that was announced three months ago, today Formula One Management (FOM) and the FIA have announced that Cadillac have been formally approved to join the F1 grid next year.

The process of Cadillac’s acceptance to the grid has been somewhat confusing, with the original application coming from Andretti to join the grid in 2025. But, when FOM reached the conclusion that an 11th team “would not on its own add value” and that it did “not believe the applicant would be a competitive participant” under the Andretti name, they teamed up with General Motors (GM) to agree a partnership that would see the Andretti team use a GM Power Unit.

While this enhanced Andretti’s application, FOM still criticised the ability of a new constructor to build two cars to two different sets of regulations in its first two years in the sport. Eventually, the Andretti F1 application took the GM/Cadillac name, which may have been the motivation behind FOM finally accepting the application.

F1’s feeling towards the Andretti brand was made clear in its rejection statement of its application; “While the Andretti name carries some recognition for F1 fans, our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around.”

Andretti have seemingly backed out of their association with the project after Michael Andretti handed leadership over to Dan Towriss in October 2024. While the car will not bear the Andretti name, Mario Andretti remains connected to the team as he will sit as a director on the board, and the team will operate to an extent from Andretti Global’s base in Silverstone.

Today’s news means that Cadillac have only 12 months to prepare a car for the 2026 season. It has been previously confirmed that they will use a Ferrari power unit when they join the grid in 2026 before they manufacture their own power units for the 2028 season.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali called the news “an important and positive demonstration of the evolution of our sport,” and thanked GM for their “constructive engagement” during the process. He continued, “[I] look forward to welcoming the team on the grid from 2026 for what will be another exciting year for Formula 1.”

Of course the introduction of an eleventh team introduces two more seats on the F1 grid – but who will fill these seats? Andretti do have access to a large pool of drivers through their other motorsport series which could act as something of a short-list. But as we’ve seen with Audi, new teams have a preference for experience – so could we see a familiar face return with the American team? Only time will tell…