Cadillac ‘new team fee’ is not high enough – Marko

Nov.27 (GMM) Cadillac F1, the new-for-2026 Formula 1 team project, will reportedly need to pay $450 million alone in the form of an anti-dilution fee.

After the original FIA-approved Andretti-Cadillac bid was blocked by F1 owner Liberty Media, a new deal involving the dropping of the Andretti brand and increased involvement from General Motors means ‘Cadillac F1’ will debut in 2026.

Michael Andretti has stepped back from the project, but the cars will be designed at the new Andretti Global facility at Silverstone, with Andretti’s legendary father Mario Andretti involved as a non-executive advisor.

When asked by NBC News if Mario’s role will be like Niki Lauda’s at Mercedes, the 1978 confirmed: “Basically that.

“I don’t want a specific job per se, where I have to punch in every day. I don’t need and want that,” said Mario. “But I welcome the opportunity to definitely be part of a lot of key decisions. This is my rodeo.”

Initially, in 2026 and 2027 but perhaps also in 2028 as well, Cadillac F1 will need to use customer engines before a works GM power unit is ready.

There were rumours the customer unit could be supplied by Honda, but 84-year-old Andretti says the “objective” is actually a deal with Ferrari.

“That’s not definite yet, but that’s the objective. And that’s the preference,” he said.

And although his son Michael has stepped back from direct involvement, Mario confirmed that the Cadillac F1 cars will be designed and built by Andretti Global.

“The team is all in, and a lot of work has already been done, believe it or not,” he said.

Many believed the project was on the verge of total collapse, and that F1 were forced into a compromise deal because of US government investigations.

“I could go back and bring up events and so forth, but some of it was not very pleasant, and I don’t really want to talk about any of that,” said Andretti. “All of that is behind us.

“Everyone is happy, including my son. That’s the most important part. No one is diminished or suffered.”

He admitted Colton Herta is an early favourite to represent America from the cockpit, and acknowledged that Valtteri Bottas and Liam Lawson enthused in Las Vegas that two extra seats in F1 is very good news.

“They said it all,” said Andretti. “There are more drivers available than teams at the moment. Ten teams seems a lot, but there’s a lot more drivers, lot more talent out there.

“From our standpoint, I think the play at the beginning would be to have one experienced driver – nationality doesn’t matter – and then a young American talent. These are the objectives at the moment.”

Originally, the new team fee in Formula 1 was $200 million, but the existing teams – backed by F1 – have argued that it needs to be much higher in Cadillac’s case to compensate for the diluted prize money pool.

The BBC reports that Cadillac will need to stump up a whopping $450 million.

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko told Osterreich newspaper: “The payment that Cadillac is making is nowhere near enough to compensate for what we have invested a lot of money in over ten years.”

However, Marko made clear that he is otherwise not opposed to the eleventh team.

“Even if the existing teams don’t benefit much from it at first, a name like Cadillac with General Motors in the background is certainly an advantage,” he said.

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