Formula 1 is expanding with an 11th team joining the global motorsport for the 2026 season, naming General Motors (NYSE:GM) with Andretti Global.
While the new team is still over a year away from starting, it will add an increased American presence to the sport and more competition for recent and four-time consecutive champion Max Verstappen.
What Happened: Formula 1, which is a unit of publicly traded Liberty Formula One (NASDAQ:FWONA)(NASDAQ:FWONK), announced it reached an agreement with General Motors for a new team, branded as Cadillac, which will enter beginning in 2026, following up a previous rejection of a GM-linked team earlier this year.
General Motors will also become an engine supplier for the league at a later date, the league announced. The GM team will use Ferrari engines until the GM engines are officially approved for the sport.
"With Formula 1's continued growth plans in the U.S., we have always believed that welcoming an impressive U.S. brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport," Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said.
General Motors President Mark Reuss called Formula 1 the "pinnacle of motorsports" and said the announcement of becoming the 11th team is an honor for the automotive company.
"We're committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world," Reuss said. "This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM's engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level."
The approval of the team comes after the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into why Liberty Media, who owns the commercial rights to Formula 1, would not approve the American team bid started by Michael Andretti.
The new team, called Cadillac F1, will be run by Andretti Global majority owners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter after Andretti stepped aside from the group in September. Former Formula 1 champion and racing legend Mario Andretti will have an ambassador role with Cadillac F1 while his son Michael will have no official position.
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Why It's Important: The announcement comes after Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix, one of three U.S. races in 2024, was recently held and saw Max Verstappen win his fourth consecutive Formula 1 World Championship.
While Verstappen finished fifth in the race, he secured enough points to guarantee that no one could match his points total with two races left in the season. This marks the fourth consecutive title by Verstappen with his first title in 2021 a close one with racing legend Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen has been dominant in the sport in recent years winning the title with races still left in season three of the four years. Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races this season before falling out of form but later did enough to win enough points to secure the title.
The new GM team marks the second American-owned team. Gene Haas owns a team but chooses to have international drivers. Michael Andretti's original vision was to have an American-owned team and also feature American drivers, something that fans of the sport will be closely watching.
Team expansion has been infrequent with four teams added in 2010 to push the total to 13 teams and 26 cars. Of the four teams added, one never raced and the other three were out of the league by 2017, as reported by the Associated Press.
The existing 10 team owners have been against expansion due to the dilution of prize money, but have no formal say in the approval process.
Adding another American team could benefit ESPN, which is a unit of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS). ESPN secured the renewal of the U.S. rights in 2022, paying an estimated $75 million to $90 million annually for the rights for three additional years.
ESPN fought off several other parties interested in the rights, as viewership for the sport has surged in recent years.
Along with recent growth in viewership in the U.S. Formula One teams have also experienced increased interest in ownership stakes from investors, including several notable American football players.
The Alpine racing team received investments in 2023 from Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, professional golfer Rory McIlroy and actor Ryan Reynolds.
FWONA Price Action: Liberty Formula One shares were up 4.25% to $80.74 on Monday, hitting an intraday high of $80.88, which is a new 52-week high. The stock is up 41% year-to-date in 2024.
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Photo: Jay Hirano Photography via Shutterstock
