All it took to get Andretti in was for Andretti to step aside. F1 still thought either under Mario or Michael, Andretti wasn’t as synonymous with F1 as American luxury sedans and SUVs.
I guess he’ll still play a big role.
The F1 press release is pretty transparent on that part:
“Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the eleventh team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process and will provide further updates in due course.”
They are straight up saying that they approved the bid because of the team’s branding being Cadillac and not Andretti. Which is a really weird statement IMO - do they actually have brand research numbers saying that Cadillac as a brand “brings more value”? Or are they really petty about not wanting the Andretti name in F1? Imo it’s even possible that one of the Andrettis did something that isn’t public and FOM is afraid that if it comes out it might taint the brand image of F1 if there is an Andretti team.
I’m guessing they think having a brand as Cadillac will bring more Americans to watch, and it’s quite clear that increasing revenue from the US is their main goal at the moment.
Veeeery interesting how they went from “noooo 100% no they can fuck themselves” to “yes yes its okay” in some weeks. Suuuure thing it’s only coincidence that the DOJ started the investigation and allegedly found the group chat of the team chefs.
Finally. It needed to happen.
ArsTechnica has a writeup on that drama. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/11/cadillac-f1-will-be-able-to-race-from-2026-despite-previous-snub/
FUCK YEAH!
@UrPartnerInCrime @formula1 Really? Why do you like this development?
Funny. When I watch Indycar and IMSA, I always feel there are TOO MANY cars to keep track of, and I can’t tell what’s going on in the race.
Maybe part of that is the tv directing. Maybe some of it is just that there are too many cars on track. I don’t know.
But I also don’t like the fact that IMSA has multiple races going on, on the same track, simultaneously, and they all have to race “around” each other. That just doesn’t make sense to me. But IMSA fans love it. I don’t get it.
More cars on the grid - great. More drivers, more competition.
Its good that there’s a new team coming in. But the only thing I know about Cadillac’s as a non-USAian is they are lolloping barges.
Cadillac also produces cars like this for IMSA (GTP class) & WEC (Hypercar class).
