Mar.19 (GMM) With Cadillac’s 2026 entry now set in stone, complete with Dan Towriss’ signature on the new Concorde Agreement, the project head has opened up about the “intense” process.
Amid fierce opposition from F1 owner Liberty Media and the existing ten teams, the initially FIA-approved Andretti team project became mired in a political struggle that went all the way to the very top of the US government.
Recalling the 2024 Miami GP, F1 legend Mario Andretti revealed some months ago that Liberty’s former CEO Greg Maffei came up to him and said: “Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael never enters Formula 1.”
In the end, Michael Andretti stepping back from his own organisation – with the F1 project fully renamed Cadillac with the works backing of GM – got the team entry to the chequered flag.
So when asked about the intense evolution of the Andretti-Cadillac F1 project, Towriss told the Indianapolis Star newspaper: “You just have to go back to Greg’s quote.
“He said what he said.”
Towriss is the CEO of TWG Motorsports, now the majority owner of Andretti Global – but it is TWG Motorsports that now oversees the Cadillac F1 program.
He recalls that former F1 driver Michael Andretti realised at some point that he needed to step back.
“He started to express a desire to step away and that it wasn’t fun at that point,” said Towriss, 51.
“At that point, it’s like ‘Ok, let’s figure out how to do that’. But obviously, we’ve had a lot invested in Andretti Global and (Indycar) as a whole. So how do we make this as smooth a transition from that standpoint?”
Referring to the battle with F1 to enter the pinnacle of motorsport, Towriss continues: “As someone on the inside, the pressure was intense.
“There were some very difficult meetings with F1 and other things happening outside, and when you put these other motorsports series together, it’s a big operation, and so I think it kinda brought us to that place.
“It just got very political. There were aspects of the bid that weren’t well understood, and it was just difficult. They (F1) felt strongly about certain issues.”
It is being reported that, to somewhat placate the existing 10 F1 teams, Cadillac had to agree to pay an anti-dilution fee of $450 million – more than double the fee paid by similar new entries in the past.
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