Andretti F1 - 2025

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Richard C

Logically it would make sense. China is no doubt a market that GM would like to increase their footprint. Cadillac is one of the brands they sell in China. And having Zhou as the driver in F1, in a Cadillac labelled car would help push the idea as Cadillac as a premium/performance brand in that market.

But how it plays domestically is the limiting factor. Great idea for China market, terrible for US market. They could potentially pull it off, but it would be a VERY hard sell with large risk of going badly. It could be economic suicide domestically. It could trigger a GM boycott driven by conservatives (who will stop buying those high profit margin trucks and SUVs). I posted about the Bud Light marketing disaster. Harley Davidson is another example (more like this example of Zhou as GM driver). Both examples of conservative driven boycotts that had real financial impact. And while the team is labelled "Cadillac" everyone here fully understands that is just a brand under GM and all GM products would be impacted.

This begs the question as to why the current partnership in China doesn't trigger the issues I call out above. I can imagine that at some level GM is ripe for criticism. But note that the partnership is about selling US brands in China. And also that none of that production is imported back into the US. At least that is the "hand waving" that GM would use to justify the partnership to any angry mobs.

I am not saying I agree with the average thinking here in the US, but that is how it would work. I will eat a number of hats if GM selects Zhou as a driver.

Richard

I'd agree with your reasoning Richard.

[S griffin]

I think they will go with at least one experienced driver, even if the driver isn't a successful one. Whether that's Zhou or someone else, we will have to see. Either way I'm excited for this new team entering and it will be something to keep a close eye on as it develops next year

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Don't think we'll see Zhou at GM. I expect Pérez and Herta.

From a marketing point of view it won't work. When Michael Andretti first suggested entering an F1 team, the idea was to have an American team with an American driver, namely Herta, which would be good for F1’s appeal in the United States, along with a more experienced driver. Haas are an American team but they have never had an American driver.

Dan Towriss, who is now running Andretti Global, is also the CEO of Group 1001 who own Gainbridge financial services, the major sponsor of Herta's #26 IndyCar, so it is pretty clear who Towriss would like to see driving in the F1 team.

Who the other driver will be is still up in the air. I quite liked Jacqies Villeneuve's suggestion, in this aricle from PlanetF1, https://www.planetf1.com/news/gm-cad...ues-villeneuve of Carlos Sainz but with Santander money flooding into Williams that won't happen.

[crmalcolm]

Cadillac team to use Ferrari engines on F1 debut

'Ferrari will supply engines to the new Cadillac team if its entry is approved for the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The US brand has an agreement in principle with F1 to join the championship from 2026 and to build its own engine "at a later time".'

[bjohnsonsmith]

According to this PlanetF1 article, Cadillac announced last November a commitment to becoming a power unit supplier from the 2028 season.


https://www.planetf1.com/news/andret...-unit-plans-f1

[Richard C]

There was speculation that GM was going to buy 2026 Renault PU IP as a way to kickstart the GM design. But I have seen reports that this didn't happen. I have to wonder if part of the reason why it didn't might have been complexities around PU budget regulations. Meaning... it could be viewed as a way around the regulations and any purchase might have resulted in the need to use a "fair market value" amount for the purchase. With the implications that even if they could get the IP for cheap (assuming Renault would sell it cheap) that it would be tracked as "full price" which would reduce the amount of money they could actually spend. And how to define a fair price from a financial regulations perspective might have been messy or not worth the effort.

Richard

[GTRMagic]

They have an engine & drivetrain…
Let’s see how they do in a crowd