Andretti formed an application to join Formula 1 as its 11th team with backing from General Motors and its luxury brand, Cadillac. This had initially been approved by the FIA, but was rejected by Formula One Management (FOM) following an evaluation with key stakeholders. FOM reached the conclusion that an 11th team “would not on its own add value” but also that it did “not believe the applicant would be a competitive participant.”

Andretti’s attempt came with the contemplation of an association with General Motors to eventually include a partnership as their PU supplier. FOM’s statement said however that this “will not be the case for years” but it would have enhanced the credibility of the application had it been the case at the outset.

Further to this, FOM 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 – reasoning for its rejection of Andretti’s 2025 ambitions and questioning of “their understanding of the scope of the challenge involved.”

But despite the initial opposition to an eleventh team on these grounds, FOM has done a u-turn in allowing GM/Cadillac to join the grid from 2026 and perhaps the main difference fuelling this is the removal of the Andretti name.

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.”

Following this, according to Mario Andretti, Greg Maffei Liberty Media’s CEO made it clear to him that the team, under his son Michael’s management, would “never enter Formula 1” as long as his name was attached to it.

As per the GM-Cadillac application, Andretti have now seemingly backed out of their association with the project after Michael Andretti handed leadership over to Dan Towriss in October. But Maffei will also not be associated with F1 when the GM-Cadillac team enters the sport in 2026 as he will step down from his role at the end of 2024, as confirmed by Liberty Media earlier this month.

The reasoning behind this feud of sorts is unknown, and while Andretti’s branding is no longer a feature of this new 11th team, Mario Andretti will remain connected in some way as he will serve as a director on the board and the team will operate to some extent from Andretti Global’s F1 base in Silverstone. Though F1 made no mention of this in their statement, instead acknowledging the “commitment to brand the eleventh team GM/Cadillac”.

What has also seemingly made the difference for FOM is the commitment shown by GM/Cadillac to becoming a full works team, including as a PU supplier, by 2028 as per F1’s recommendations.

F1’s Andretti rejection statement said it would “look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team designing all allowable components in house.” 

“In this case there would be additional factors to consider in respect of the value that the applicant would bring to the championship,” the statement read. President of General Motors, Mark Reuss, spoke to GM’s “engineering expertise and technology leadership” in his statement and while no timeline for GM’s role as a PU supplier to its team was given, the ambition itself coupled with its “rich history of developing high-performance powertrains” is likely to have been pivotal in FOM’s approval.

In approving an eleventh team, F1 has now utilised the potential for the presence of up to 12 teams in the Concorde Agreement to some degree, prior to its renegotiation at the end of 2025, where the existing teams are likely to look to limit the grid and limit how diluted their prize money can become. While no confirmation has been given as to how much GM/Cadillac will have to pay as a dilution fee as compensation to the 10 existing teams for splitting their prize money 11 ways rather than 10, it’s likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars as F1’s existing rules lay out a $200m anti-dilution fee. This figure could also be renegotiated as part of the new Concorde Agreement from 2026 however. 

The work from GM/Cadillac in building their operation has already begun, proving to FOM, along with their signing of FOM’s ex-Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds, that they are serious about competing at motorsport’s highest level and are capable of bringing competition to its current big players.