Today, Formula 1 and General Motors announced their official agreement that will see the legendary American automaker enter the prestigious sport as the 11th group on the grid. The team, in collaboration with TWG (owner of Andretti Global, Wayne Taylor Racing, and Spire Motorsports) will operate under the Cadillac banner. This new addition will mark the first new team to the sport since 2016.

The manufacturer submitted its original application to join the grid way back in January of 2023, after a delays caused by the FOM rejecting the application last year. Despite these delays, the application how now been accepted, allowing the team to begin competing as early as 2026.

The new release will play a pivotal role in displaying and highlighting the Cadillac brand to a diverse international audience. It will also play a large part in showcasing the technology that GM is able to bring to the sport and to automotive consumers in the commercial space. This development to the brand will only strengthen GM’s stake as cornerstone brand in the automotives space. Further, GM has decades of historic success across motorsports, including over 3,000 wins and more than 100 driver and manufacturer championships and has its eyes set on being a competitive team against its international rivals.

General Motors President Mark Reuss believes the entrance on to the F1 grid will provide an opportunity for GM “to demonstrate their (GM’s) engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.” The obvious enthusiasm and innovation from the team at General Motors, along with the partnerships with other key players, such as Mario Andretti, the board president for the new team, might make a potent group capable of challenging long time contenders such as Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.

Despite mixed feelings from fans around the world, it is no doubt that 2026 should be an exciting one for fans of F1. Much is yet to be seen, but regardless of the outcome, the addition of a new team to the grid is sure to set the stage for how race teams are added after 2026.