Feb.9 (GMM) Cadillac’s high-profile Super Bowl livery reveal has been overshadowed by legal drama, with Hollywood director Michael Bay filing a $1.5 million lawsuit against the new Formula 1 team.
According to a report by New York Times, Bay alleges that Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss and the team used his creative ideas for the Super Bowl commercial without paying for them, after initially approaching him to direct the project late last year.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, accuses Cadillac F1 of breach of contract and fraud. Bay claims he was effectively hired in November 2025 to conceptualise, produce and direct the commercial, before being dropped weeks later while his ideas were retained.
The purpose of the ad was to unveil Cadillac’s black-and-white F1 identity in a distinctly American way, combining a Super Bowl commercial with a multi-day activation in Times Square. Bay says he pitched concepts involving desert imagery and iconic American symbolism, drawing on work from films such as Transformers and Armageddon.
Cadillac F1 strongly rejects the claims.
“Michael Bay is a cinematic genius and we talked with him about directing our Super Bowl ad,” a team spokesperson said. “But after two meetings, it became clear he couldn’t meet our timeline, and there ultimately wasn’t a path forward.
“It’s unclear why he’s bringing this claim, since the concept and creative were already developed and we were only exploring him as a director.”
The team added it was “confident this will be resolved appropriately”.
The dispute surfaced on the same day Cadillac began its long-teased public reveal, installing a glass display box in Times Square with the silhouette of its 2026 show car visible behind a matte film. The full livery was unveiled during the Super Bowl commercial break.
The team is scheduled to complete a filming day with its new livery in Bahrain on Monday, ahead of the official group pre-season test from February 11 to 13.
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