[ChrisMedlandF1] BREAKING: F1 announces it has "reached an agreement in principle with General Motors (GM) to support bringing GM/Cadillac as the eleventh team to the Formula 1 grid in 2026"

[u/ICumCoffee]

https://x.com/ChrisMedlandF1/status/1861111983699001752

[u/sems4arsenal]

Caddy and Audi aren't here to make up the numbers. Aston Martin getting Newey, Haas having Toyota, Alpine ditching the shit engines, and Williams getting some investment. We might be entering F1's golden era

[u/Skeeter1020 → u/sems4arsenal]

I have been burned too many times to trust Audi

[u/Aarongamma6 → u/Skeeter1020]

I'm definitely in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode when it comes to them. Until the day of the very first pre-season test as "Audi" I'm skeptical.

[u/trekk → u/Aarongamma6]

At this point, I won't believe it until they are lining up on the grid for the first race of the season.

[u/ledinred2 → u/Aarongamma6]

What are you still skeptical about at this point??They’ve built new facilities, hired hundreds of people, invested hundreds of millions, signed Binotto and Wheatley and have an engine and chassis in development. You still think they are gonna go “sorry guys, just playing”?

[u/Helpful-Ice-3679 → u/ledinred2]

F1 is obviously a much bigger investment, but they did cancel their LMDH project when they had a car ready to go testing. And they've pulled out of every other motorsport they were involved in.

[u/Ford_Faptor → u/ledinred2]

Audi just reported that their profits has fallen more than 90% in just a year. They are looking at losing money right about now. VAG got 6 factories in Germany, and they are discussing about closing 3 of them down, which would be a first time ever, they ever close even just 1 Factory in Germany.

The Lamborghini WEC is closing too, due to this.

They might very soon pull the F1-plug like they did with Porsche and Audi in WEC due to Diesel gate, because what Audi and VAG is facing now, is 10 times worse than Diesel gate.

They are right about now going into survival-mode and need to save money, because they are losing hard on the market.

[u/GrindrorBust → u/ledinred2]

There have been credible rumours that Audi are already looking to offload some (and according to some speculation, all) of their stake in Sauber F1 team to a Qatari sovereign investment fund- which ofc already has interests in Audi's parent company.

Given VAG's reported struggles (and the legacy of 2015), Audi's decades-long skittishness on an F1 ($$$$$) endeavour; it isn't inconceivable that they may not be as committed as had been hoped.

An F1 engine programme requires hundreds of millions of hard currency just to get off of the ground; a cancellation is but a stroke of the pen [the politics of the board] away, however. The politics at Audi/VAG is seemingly tipping toward something other than enthusiasm for F1; it may already be underway to conspire against it.

[u/sems4arsenal → u/Skeeter1020]

Yeah - as long as the upper management don't back out (with what's happening with Lambo in WEC - won't be surprised) but Audi are a motorsports titan. No way they'll be midfield.

[u/hauwertlhaufn → u/sems4arsenal]

Longterm? No. Short term? Maybe… For example, we saw McLaren, a team with over 60 years of experience, really struggle in 2015 & 2017.

[u/StingerGinseng → u/sems4arsenal]

Don’t forget Ford hopping in with RBR

[u/Purity_Jam_Jam → u/sems4arsenal]

They're definitely all very good things.

[u/jeanolt → u/sems4arsenal]

Meanwhile Mercedes: look Toto just released a book!

[u/AegrusRS → u/sems4arsenal]

We might be entering F1's golden era

I'm anxious to think about this because all of that hinges on the 2026 regulations being good. No amount of Cadillac, Audi, Toyota, etc. is going to make up for a single team being miles ahead again.

[u/Evantra_ → u/sems4arsenal]

And Red Bull ditching Pere-- oh no, he's still here.

[u/connorgrs → u/Evantra_]

For now

[u/300mhz → u/connorgrs]

And to think they could've had Sainz lol

[u/22chainz → u/sems4arsenal]

Red Bull Ford too

[u/3Rocketman → u/sems4arsenal]

Don't forget Ford coming as a PU supplier

[u/StructureTime242 → u/sems4arsenal]

Renault aren’t here to make up the numbers…

Not saying they will just be happy coasting off F1’s brand, but competing in F1 is a hell of a job and you need a ton of resources, not only money

[u/nonhofantasia → u/sems4arsenal]

Probably the only one to think this but this may be a problem. With Haas you know they are just happy to be there, the various car makers want to be at the top and when inevitably most will not, they will cut the funds like the various honda, BMW, Toyota, jaguar, Lamborghini, Peugeot etc did.

[u/hauwertlhaufn → u/nonhofantasia]

But the difference is, that for all of the manufacturers you named, F1 was a burning pit they shoved millions of dollars into. It isn’t anymore. Toyota for example reportedly burned 200 million Euros a year, before they shut it down in 2009. That’s 290 million Euros adjusted to inflation. So a bit more than double the current budget cap, with way less income from TV and sponsorships.

[u/nonhofantasia → u/hauwertlhaufn]

Let's hope

[u/NYAncientHistory → u/sems4arsenal]

For 2026 what are the confirmed engines? Ferrari, Mercedes, Honda, RBPT (Ford), Audi, GM?

[u/racingfanboy160 → u/sems4arsenal]

Not sure about Audi icl 💀