For the first time since 2010, Formula 1 will add a new team to its race calendar as General Motors has been confirmed as the latest team to join the race organisation.
Alongside its Cadillac brand, General Motors will join as F1’s 11th team in 2026, becoming the second US construction team alongside the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.
F1 parent company Liberty Media has been keen on adding another US team as part of the race calendar since the surge in popularity of F1 since the runaway success of the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ docuseries.
Chiefs at F1 have been placing increased emphasis on the US market, adding an additional two US-based Grand Prix’s – Miami and Las Vegas Grand Prix’s – to the race calendar in recent years.
It has been confirmed that once the General Motors team takes to the track in 2026, it will use Ferrari engines for its first two years with Cadillac engines then being used from 2028 onwards.
Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, stated: “With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport.
Whilst no financial details have been disclosed, according to the governing Concorde Agreement – which dictates how much revenue is split between F1 teams – projects that there would be a slot price of $200m for any new team to be added to the racing organisation.
Much like within the NFL and NBA, expansion teams that get added to the league are required for interested parties to place bids in accordance with league valuations. Once a bid has been accepted by a league’s organising committee, the total fee is split between the rest of the existing teams.
General Motors’ addition to F1 could prove to be profitable for the rest of the F1 teams, as the racing organisation has grown in popularity, therefore its valuations of its teams has also significantly risen.
Whilst confirmed to begin in 2026, the current Concorde Agreement expires in 2025 and throws into question the total valuation of the General Motors team.
