Honda has emerged as the most logical choice for General Motors (GM) to supply F1 engines to Cadillac Racing, which is looking to enter F1 in partnership with Andretti Global.
Andretti announced Thursday that it has partnered with General Motors to offer the FIA an expression of interest to enter F1 as soon as possible. If successful, the team will operate under the Cadillac brand.
GM’s involvement in the project caused a surprise. The American manufacturer is not believed to have any intention of building its own F1 power unit from 2026, and the registration deadline has passed.
However, GM president Mark Reuss has revealed that he has already reached an agreement with current F1 engine manufacturers to use F1 power units.
“We signed a deal with our power unit supplier as a start,” said Mark Reuss.
“And as we move forward, we also bring a lot of expertise to create things for the future.”
Michael Andretti added, “I think it will be a collaboration with another manufacturer.”
Neither Mark Reuss nor Michael Andretti gave details on which manufacturer they plan to partner with, but the most logical would be Honda.
Honda officially withdrew from F1 at the end of 2021, but recently announced that it has registered with the FIA as a manufacturer so that it can produce power units under the 2026 F1 regulations.
It also shows that Honda is willing to lease its IP to Red Bull for the next few years to allow other companies to badge their products.
Cadillac and Honda have a longstanding automotive business partnership on electric vehicles, and the two companies already have a good relationship.
Asked specifically about Honda’s planned partnership, Mark Reuss said:
“Obviously, we have a big partnership with Honda on the EV side. We also compete with Honda in series like IndyCar.”
“So we have a natural respect and a relationship. It doesn’t matter at all. We’ll talk about this engine part later.”
Another option Andretti was considering was Renault, a French automaker eager to add customers to its roster in the future.
Red Bull is also considering finding a manufacturer partner to badge its own power unit from 2026, and has recently been rumored to partner with Ford.
For GM, the opportunity to partner with Andretti’s F1 entry, combined with the ability to have immediate access to F1-spec engine technology, means it makes sense.
As to why GM is currently focusing on F1, Mark Reuss said: “I’ve always wanted to be in F1, at least in my career history, but for various reasons it’s been quite difficult to do so.” comment.
“Whether it was the leadership, the money at the time, or where the company was, where the economy was, whatever those reasons, over time they were different.”
Andretti said it has started recruiting engineers for its F1 project and has already appointed a technical director.
“We do a lot of hiring,” said Michael Andretti.
“We already have quite a few people working for us.”
“We have hired the main engineer. We are very far ahead. We have already hired a technical director and we will announce that in the future as well.”
Category: F1 / honda f1 / Andretti