Formula 1 News: Mario Andretti speaks out on Cadillac F1 Team

On this latest episode of Drive To Wynn, host Justin Bell welcomed Mario Andretti, 1978 F1 Champion & current Director of Cadillac F1. Mario recaps the season finale and says McLaren has set the bar high as his new team gets set to debut in 2026. What type of driver is Mario targeting in year one? And what present did Ferrari leave under his Christmas tree?

–by Mark Cipolloni–

After making a full-blown bid to enter F1 as the 11th team on the grid, Michael Andretti faced abject rejection from the Formula One Management (FOM) – it was personal for whatever reason. However, when his son Michael Andretti agreed to remove himself from the team and let Cadillac take the lead, things changed.

F1 confirmed the team’s entry to the sport last month, albeit under the Cadillac flag. And the Andretti camp has accepted the situation that their name is nowhere on the entry.

We stayed on the road, we stayed on it and [were] confident that we could meet the requirements. Ultimately, I think that’s what made them accept us,” he said.

Mario Andretti. Photo by Penske Entertainment: Dana Garrett

While Mario pins the success of his F1 bid on “faith”, there was a lot of political wrangling and tenacity that played out behind the scenes.

The premise used by the FOM for rejection was their lack of faith in Andretti Global’s profitability in the sport. However, it is widely believed that it was Michael Andretti’s direct involvement that was a problem for F1’s commercial rights holders.

As soon as Michael stepped down from the position of CEO, the newly rebranded Cadillac F1 outfit was shown the green signal by the FOM.

While initially the Cadillac F1 cars were being designed and built by Andretti Racing Limited but raced under the Cadillac name, F1 management had such a hard-on with the use of the Andretti name, even that had to be officially changed.

As things stand, finance Goliath Dan Towriss’ 1001 Group is heading the Cadillac’s project in F1.

For debut in 2026, Cadillac have struck an engine supply deal with Ferrari. The Italian automotive giants would supply the latest-spec power units to the American team until 2028.

Speaking about this deal, Andretti Sr. said, “Obviously if you had a choice that was it [Ferrari], and that makes Christmas so much more better for me, so much more brighter.”

The 1978 F1 champion is looking to take inspiration from a current F1 team to build the foundations for the American team. Andretti says that he wants Cadillac to build their team on the McLaren model. The Woking-based outfit have enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent months and even winning the 2024 F1 Constructors’ Championship.

When asked which current F1 team he would want to build the American team’s model off, he said: “Probably McLaren at the moment.

“Yeah, I mean the level they are competing, we look at the beginning of the season to where it is now, it’s just amazing to see.

“It’s all about the effort, it’s the people that you surround yourself with and all that and make the difference. The drivers, the technical side and that’s what makes it work.

“I mean we know that one movement in a key position on a team can bring things around. We’ve seen that in McLaren obviously and Zak Brown will be the first one to admit it.”

Mario Andretti wants to have an American driver in one of their cars alongside an experienced driver. IndyCar star Colton Herta has been mentioned, but American F2 driver Jak Crawford is likely a better choice given his F2 success and his familiarity with almost all the existing F1 tracks.

The team really wants at least one American driver, and Jak Crawford probably makes the most sense at this point since 2025 will be his final year in F2.