by The Beginning of the Rivalry Between American Giants in Formula 1
This year’s Formula 1 World Championship promises to be especially interesting, particularly for American fans. Not only is Cadillac returning to the track as the eleventh team, but Ford has also entered into a partnership agreement with Red Bull Racing as an engine supplier. Even before the start of the races, the two American giants began exchanging caustic comments about each other.
Cadillac’s Position: Ford is Only for Marketing
At the core of Cadillac’s F1 ambitions is Dan Towriss, who asserts that General Motors’ commitment far exceeds Ford’s. In his opinion, these two American projects cannot even be compared.
It’s not even close. One deal is a marketing deal with minimal impact, while GM is an equity owner (in the Cadillac team). They are deeply involved from an engineering standpoint, and they have been involved from day one. These two deals could not be more different.
The Cadillac team was formed on the basis of Andretti, which repeatedly tried but failed to gain entry into Formula 1. It aims to transform into a full-factory team by 2028, creating its own power unit. However, in 2026 and 2027, it will rely on Ferrari engines.
Ford’s Response: GM Just Bought Stickers
In response to Towriss’s comments, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford stated that he “started laughing” upon hearing the statement from GM.
I would say it’s actually the opposite. They are using a Ferrari engine. They are not using a Cadillac engine. I don’t know if they have any GM employees in the race team.
Ford insists that its involvement is practical. The company has Ford Racing engineers embedded within the Red Bull Powertrains team in the UK, and it has supplied several 3D-printed components for the hybrid power unit. Ford also plays a technical role in battery deployment, calibration, and management elements.
We could have spent a lot of money to stick our logo on a car or put our name next to a team. But we made a very conscious decision to form Red Bull Ford Powertrains as a true technical partnership and to genuinely complement the bold efforts that Red Bull decided to undertake to develop its own power unit.
Overall, the jokes between the teams will become irrelevant once the racing begins. If Ford is partnering with one of the strongest F1 teams of the last two decades, GM is starting from scratch and will likely have to fight for every position to move up the field, or risk remaining at the back of the pack permanently, like Haas.
This confrontation between two legends of the American auto industry in the global Formula 1 could become one of the brightest storylines of the 2026 season. While Ford is betting on technological integration with a championship-winning team, Cadillac is choosing the path of full control, starting from zero. The success of each strategy will depend not on words, but on results on the track, where both manufacturers will have to prove their case in conditions of fierce competition. For American fans, this is a unique opportunity to support their own at the highest level of world motorsport.
