American Powerhouse Andretti’s F1 Entry in Jeopardy as Cadillac’s Shaky Loyalty Gets Questioned: “Likes of McLaren & Williams Are Looking”

Michael Andretti, ever since expressing his interest in entering F1, has faced many roadblocks. To begin with, the existing teams were against the 10 percent reduction in their share of prize money. Then they proposed that he cough up $200 million to compensate them for the dilution. Later, the existing teams ordered that he cough up more than triple that amount, as F1’s value had increased over time. And when there wasn’t anything left, they asked him to get an actual automaker onboard. In furtherance of that, he announced a partnership with Cadillac. Now, if a veteran F1 journalist is to be believed, even that partnership might be on a knife edge.

As the incumbent teams made a demand of a $700 million dilution fee, Andretti’s interest reportedly grew towards buying AlphaTauri out instead of floating the 11th team. That happened since Dietrich Mateschitz’s death when speculations were running that Red Bull was looking to offload their sister team. The senior team’s boss, Christian Horner, however, put all those rumors to rest recently.

Now, according to Joe Saward, even Cadillac’s loyalty isn’t unconditional. In his recent blog, he talked about how the automaker is willing to enter the competition regardless of whether that entry comes through Andretti. That is because, as an automaker, their role might be limited to manufacturing ICEs, while Andretti will have to deliver the chassis.

“What Andretti needs to do therefore if it is win an entry is to prove that it can produce a competitive chassis and run a solid racing team. Elsewhere, the likes of McLaren or Williams are looking at Cadillac and thinking ‘Yummy, I can eat that…’,” he wrote.

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Saward also talked about the consensus among the manufacturers that has changed since the introduction of the budget cap.

Will Cadillac float a team without Andretti to get a bigger share of the pie?

Ever since the introduction of the budget cap in 2021, the expenses of each time are more or less equal. The earned revenue, on the other hand, has only increased with the increase in the sport’s popularity. That has left manufacturers thinking if going alone and earning better profits is the way to go in the future.

That, according to Saward, might also be the conundrum Cadillac must be going through. He wrote, “it is in the interest of manufacturers to have their own teams, now that there is a budget cap and revenues are rising and teams can make a profit.”

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Whether Andretti will get an entry in F1, only time will tell. But these possible developments don’t paint a rosy picture. Do you think 2026 might still be the year for Andretti Global to enter F1? Or have they had enough to deter them from pursuing their dream?