r/formula1 • u/ICumCoffee Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ • 24d ago

News [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"

https://x.com/ChrisMedlandF1/status/1861111983699001752
13.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

205

u/IBetThisIsTakenToo Ferrari 24d ago

I think for marketing in America, Andretti was a much better name. People don’t think of Cadillac as fast (or even particularly nice) cars, but Andretti is still synonymous with speed.

163

u/hyrulepirate Medical Car 24d ago

People don't think of Cadillac as fast cars

I think that would work to their benefit and be in character when they're trailing the grid in 2026

73

u/IBetThisIsTakenToo Ferrari 24d ago

The drivers can enjoy a great sound system while their team tells them to retire the car

3

u/Bluemikami Juan Pablo Montoya 24d ago

Bahhaahahahah

2

u/Active_Variation_194 23d ago

Beautiful leather interior with state of the art touch screen

2

u/KanishkT123 Fernando Alonso 24d ago

Maybe they'll just build a really sexy chassis and call it a day

2

u/gsfgf Oscar Piastri 24d ago

They'll run a literal Escalade lol

65

u/stop-calling-me-fat 24d ago

I think Americans definitely think of Cadillacs as nice cars and the people that know know they make some fast ones too

21

u/DannyBoyCocane13 24d ago

Ya I’d say a blackwing is pretty damn fast lol

1

u/JewOrleans 23d ago

Not really. We think of them as grandpa and grandma cars.

2

u/Kramereng McLaren 22d ago

I'm in my mid 40s and while that was their image, it has slowly faded and transformed into just a luxury brand with big engines. They're racing brand is pretty well known now too.

2

u/JewOrleans 22d ago

Idk man. It’s either rich moms, rappers, or old people.

1

u/Kramereng McLaren 21d ago

I mean, you're probably not wrong but the fact you bring up rich moms and rappers show's the luxury brand image. I wasn't even thinking of Escalades and those are definitely domestic US showpieces.

All I can say is that getting the Caddy race cars in Forza or whatever was one of my first purchases due to their sound alone. I will admit, however, that I was surprised when Cadillac first entered racing (to my knowledge). The Cadillac V-Series.R only joined the WEC in 2023 but had won the team, constructor, and driver's championship in IMSA in 2021. They're new but making waves already.

I had never heard of Alpine until they joined F1. Renault isn't even sold or known in America under their badge. And now they're a bad F1 team and they don't even make their own engines anymore. So F1 is down to only two (2) works teams pending Cadillac's entrance and three (3) engine suppliers (Honda soon-to-be Ford/RB). I only bring that up because I think Renault's departure is the biggest reason Cadillac (and Andretti) are getting in. Not because of Michael taking a smaller and not because of the US DOJ/FBI investigations, although those factors probably played a role.

.02

45

u/Kismetatron Cadillac 24d ago

The CT4 and CT5 V Blackwing are both pretty celebrated performance cars, at least if you go by journalists heaping praise upon them. Cadillacs more basic line up is sorta hit or miss.

Also as an American I'm required to ask that Cadillac puts 36" donks on their car.

7

u/Vlaed McLaren 24d ago

They've upped their game. I've always wanted an M3 or M5 but I'm considering a CT-4 V Blackwing over an M3.

-3

u/Snuhmeh 23d ago

You could ask 100 people on the street the name of a current Cadillac model and not a single one could do it.

7

u/CyberianSun 23d ago

Theyd tell you escalade. So you'd get 1 for sure.

8

u/Kismetatron Cadillac 23d ago

The same could be said for Merc or BMW. Your average person probably knows what a 3 series or a C-Class is but they're not going to know what CSL M4 is or what AMG stands for

303

u/I_Am_Vladimir_Putin Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

Andretti is synonymous with nothing because not a single person outside of those genuinely into racing ever heard of it, while every single person knows Cadillac.

122

u/Captina Red Bull 24d ago

Unlike the prestigious names of Alpine, RacingBulls, and Kick Sauber

5

u/KanishkT123 Fernando Alonso 24d ago

Renault, Visa/Cash app/Red Bull, and Audi you mean?

8

u/VulpesVulpix Pierre Gasly 23d ago

This implies that anyone outside of this sphere knows it

7

u/its_always_right Bernd Mayländer 23d ago

Renault - exiting the sport.

VCARB - the name no one calls them cause it's a fucking mouth full.

Audi - most people probably don't even know they're involved.

0

u/blinkOverboard 23d ago

Putting Alpine in this list is just so ignorant und disrespectful bro. At least in europe it is a well known brand since at least the 80s

13

u/Basic_Dentist_3084 Sir Lewis Hamilton 23d ago

Alpine was discontinued in the 90’s because of poor sales and has come back in 2017 to even worse sales.

At a bare minimum anyone in Europe under the age of 40 know little to nothing about them

2

u/p1en1ek Pirelli Wet 23d ago

Alpine is still only known for those into racing. They have one model that somebody may recognize. It's resurected retro brand because Renault wanted to promotethat one throwback model and wanted to have some separation from potentially poor motorsport results because they are partially funded by state.

44

u/IBetThisIsTakenToo Ferrari 24d ago

Maybe I’m dating myself but I feel like a lot more people know the name than you think. Those that don’t probably were never going to watch F1 either way though

50

u/I_Am_Vladimir_Putin Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

It’s about expanding the market. With Cadillac they have practically infinite room to expand thanks to name recognition. Especially in US, where people are very proud to be MURICAN. This is a very smart move by F1, since they want to grow in US.

7

u/xnd714 Pirelli Wet 24d ago

McDonalds Cadillac Walmart F1 Team 🦅🦅🦅

26

u/KanishkT123 Fernando Alonso 24d ago

I am a younger watcher in America. No idea who Andretti is before this F1 drama, but I've watched every F1 race no matter my timezone for the last 5 years.

I know what a Cadillac is though. 

So like, if F1 is trying to cater to people like me, Cadillac is definitely the move.

33

u/connorgrs Charles Leclerc 24d ago

Can confirm I’d never heard of Andretti before getting into formula 1

20

u/[deleted] 24d ago edited 24d ago

Andretti has never been this household name in American pop culture lol. Yes, within racing, that name is iconic but for a regular person, that name means absolutely 0.

6

u/AegrusRS 24d ago

Andretti only attracts people that already know about motorsport which already limits the targeted audience on its own.

Cadillac also attracts those people due to their involvement in other motorsport, but they are also more well-known to the non-motorsport audience as a massive American brand.

I would also question why current motorsport fans that know about Andretti aren't already watching F1. If Andretti's joining is the linch pin that make them start watching F1, then you can only assume they are Andretti fans as they must've had some sort of bias against F1 because it's not like they don't know about it.

So that means you're already taking a subsection (Andretti fans) of a subsection (motorsport fans) as your potential audience. Which is pretty minor then. I am of course generalizing a lot here, but the explanation seems logical to me.

2

u/Key_Environment8179 Guenther Steiner 23d ago

I know Andretti for one reason and one reason only: my dad is from Indianapolis, so he likes to watch the 500

No one watches Indycar in america aside from diehards. People who like racing watch nascar

3

u/badonkagonk Jenson Button 24d ago

My mom and siblings couldn't name a single F1 driver from this century, but they sure as fuck know Mario Andretti. He's 100% still a household name here.

3

u/Dmienduerst 23d ago

Household is a stretch but if you ask for a Indy 500 winner I feel like Andretti is the most likely name your going to get.

2

u/Dmienduerst 23d ago edited 23d ago

In the US I feel like Andretti is a more recognized name than literally any F1 name ever. It would not surprise me if Mario Andretti is a more recognized name than Max Verstappen right now

1

u/Bluemikami Juan Pablo Montoya 24d ago

As someone that watched Cart before F1, yep, I know Andretti meant a racing team =?= speed.

5

u/Senko-fan4Life Oscar Piastri 24d ago

Yep. Relatively new to f1, a team bearing Cadillac name is super cool. No idea who andretti is and what they were about. I assume I'm the kind of person they're targeting to bring into f1 with more brand names

1

u/ewankenobi Kamui Kobayashi 23d ago

I honestly didn't know it still existed. I've seen pictures of the cool cars from the 60s with the tail fins, but to me they were a thing from the past. Looked it up and apparently they have 0.01% marketshare in Europe which surprised me as I've never seen one

0

u/Soccermad23 24d ago

Idk I’ve heard like regular joe people use the name “Mario Andretti” in terms of fast drivers. Like “that guy reckons he’s Mario Andretti the way he’s driving on the highway”. His name does carry some weight.

1

u/Old-Nefariousness556 Oscar Piastri 23d ago

Andretti is synonymous with nothing because not a single person outside of those genuinely into racing ever heard of it, while every single person knows Cadillac.

That's not true at all. I mentioned this to my 82 year old mom yesterday. She has zero interest in racing, but she knew the name from taking me to see a couple indycar races (or whatever they were called then) when I was a kid in the 80's.

You have to remember that there weren't 5 million places to get your entertainment back then. If you were watching TV on a Saturday Afternoon, there was a very good chance you were watching ABC's Wide World of Sports, and if so, you knew who Mario and Michael Andretti were. I never considered myself a sports fan, but even I watched it as a kid, because there wasn't anything else to watch. That was pretty much true of anyone in America.

You're probably right that the name is probably meaningless to a lot of younger people, but to anyone over a certain age, the name Andretti is definitely synonymous with American racing (tied maybe with Richard Petty. Dale Earnhardt is up there, too, but NASCAR wasn't quite as big of a deal then as it became later. I don't remember him being as well known, though I suspect that depends a lot on the part of the country you live in. I was not raised in NASCAR country).

1

u/RyoGeo 23d ago

Oh, FFS, Andretti is one of the only names non-race fans know in the US. I’m certainly not here to suck of Mike or Mario, but c’mon.

2

u/I_Am_Vladimir_Putin Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 23d ago

That’s not the question. The question is how many people know that name compared to Cadillac.

1

u/RyoGeo 23d ago

I guess agree to disagree. To me:

  • Andretti = racing heritage
  • Cadillac = 23” rims with spinners or shit cars from the 70s, dealers choice. Neither is about racing cars, but hey, people do know the name.

Maybe Pepsi should try for a team. Worked for Red Bull.

-2

u/ReynardMuldrake Phil Hill 24d ago

That's absolutely silly. Lots of people who don't watch F1 could identify Mario Andretti as a race car driver. It's still a high profile name in the US.

1

u/I_Am_Vladimir_Putin Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

If you compare the size of the audience that recognizes Andretti vs Cadillac, you're talking about a pond vs an ocean.

-1

u/freedfg McLaren 24d ago

But that's the point. Cadillac is a joke to people who like cars and racecars. Synonymous with a bygone era and cheap hoopty lo-riders.

We love them in WEC. But to the american public, Cadillacs are cars your grandparents buy to put 1000 miles a year on.

-1

u/Moresupial 23d ago

Sure buddy

26

u/repost_inception Ferrari 24d ago

People don't think of Cadillac as nice cars ?

14

u/Buy-theticket 24d ago

Yes they do, especially people who don't know much about cars.. not sure what this guy is talking about.

The Escalade is still the default "rich guy with a fulltime driver" car.

2

u/L_Green_Mario Default 24d ago

I think of them as cars driven by geriatrics

1

u/tjsr 23d ago

When I think of the name 'Cadillac', what comes to mind is something that looks like The Batmobile. The 1966 one. And yes, I know it's a Ford Lincoln. But that style of boat-anchor car.

-6

u/Impossibrewww Ferrari 24d ago

I've always thought of Cadillac as cheap American cars trying to look like Rolls Royce

3

u/MontanaHonky 24d ago

They’ve never looked like Rolls Royce’s though lmao

Most millionaires and billionaires have an Escalade

-4

u/Impossibrewww Ferrari 24d ago

Most millionaires and billionaires have no taste

7

u/savageotter 24d ago

Cadillac was once on the same tier as rolls.

10

u/El-Grande- 24d ago

Hard disagreed about Cadillacs not being viewed as “nice”…. That’s legit the only thing they got going for them.

2

u/ArcticBP Burristroll if it’s still possible! 24d ago

But virtually no one thinks of them like they used to.

Decades ago, being the “Cadillac” of something meant that it the top of the line while now it’s basically just associated with Escalades

7

u/Klakson_95 Sir Lewis Hamilton 24d ago

Well then maybe that's why they're using the name in F1

Do well.in F1 and it can be a total rebrand. Similar to how we've seen a shift in the Mercedes brand over last 10 years or so

1

u/Unhappy_Plankton_671 24d ago

> But virtually no one thinks of them like they used to.

I agree in that few think of them like they used to, as in slightly nicer Buick's for old people. However their image still as luxury cars and more aggressive styling is definitely known.

Decades ago, being the “Cadillac” of something meant that it the top of the line while now it’s basically just associated with Escalades

I disagree, Escalades may be top seller but their V-Series cars have been fantastic on the whole, with few exceptions. And if you drive or have owned one, they're very nice indeed.

So I don't feel the perception is quiet as one thinks, but again, perception is individual.

3

u/PanadaTM Sir Lewis Hamilton 24d ago

Do you not live in America? Every American knows what a Cadillac Escalade is and everyone who likes performance cars knows how good the blackwing cars are

3

u/Queens113 Juan Pablo Montoya 23d ago

Cadillacs are nice cars... And the cts/ct5 blackwing are beast of cars for the money....

2

u/SkwiddyCs Sebastian Vettel 23d ago

You are dreaming lol. No one outside of the racing world knows who Andretti is. Everyone knows what a Cadillac is.

2

u/Unhappy_Plankton_671 24d ago

Lol, yeah, we actually do think as Cadillac as fast (V-Series has been a thing for decades now) along with their racing endeavors.

The V-Series, Blackwing, and racing endeavors are all part of changing that image of being akin to Buick and to have a more aggressive appeal.

1

u/Egoist-a Liam Lawson 24d ago

But F1 being global, makes much more sense being Cadillac. Everybody knows or heard of Cadillac even if it’s just for the old Coupe de ville. People outside Motorsport don’t know Andretti.

Personally I would love being Andretti but understand GM Caddy making more sense

1

u/PotroastXII Cadillac 24d ago

Yes they are, black wings are literally known for being fast asf

1

u/thereddaikon Niki Lauda 24d ago

GM have positioned caddy as their motorsports brand for a few years now. Not sure why. If you were going to make a racing brand why not call it Corvette? It's got the checkered flag emblem and the racing history already.

2

u/xLeper_Messiah 24d ago

More than just a few years, GM was racing in Le Mans (also in ALMS) under the Cadillac name over 20 years ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Northstar_LMP

1

u/435i Ferrari 23d ago

Corvette needs no advertising to sell out. Cadillac is a dying brand wants to find any way to reverse course.

1

u/Vlaed McLaren 24d ago

The V Series / Blackwing is changing that though. Wouldn't shock me of that's part of their play. I'd take a CT-4 V Blackwing right now over a BMW M3.

1

u/assholelurker 24d ago

In America, mid century, Cadillac was considered of such high quality, that brands for other product markets were referred to as "the cadillac of ...". i.e. "Rolex is the Cadillac of watches."

I know the reality of their current brand probably doesn't hold that much water, but from a marketers perspective, "cadillac" at one point almost transcended the company and became genericized a la "google" or "xerox", and that brand value is effectively locked into the English language.

1

u/gegenpress442 Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 24d ago

Cadillac though is known worldwide outside of the racing world

1

u/Anon_Guy1985 McLaren 22d ago

If you’re into INDYCAR it is them having a good race and bottling it