General Motors still “confident” in Andretti Cadillac F1 bid

In the first official comment from the American automotive giant since a statement rejecting the bid was issued by F1 on 31 January, GM’s vice president of performance and motorsport Jim Campbell said the project was still proceeding “at pace”.

Speaking at Daytona on Friday, Campbell also reaffirmed that the team had requested a meeting with F1 after an IT glitch meant that an invitation sent by the commercial rights holder to Andretti in December went astray.

The bid was approved by the FIA in October before passing to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and his colleagues as the next step in the process.

Last month’s rejection statement questioned the potential competitiveness of the project, especially in its initial guise with a Renault customer power unit.

But it did leave the door open for a different reaction when Cadillac’s own power unit is ready in 2028, and the team would be a works-backed entry.

Analysis: The three key factors that led F1 to turn down Andretti

“In terms of our application with Andretti, we feel great about our application,” said Campbell.

“The FIA studied it against other applicants, and then gave our application a vote of confidence and approval.

“So obviously the FOM made their statement, and we have asked for a follow up meeting with FOM, and so we will work through that. We do believe between Andretti and Cadillac that we have got the capability of fielding a competitive entry.

“We are not saying that it is easy, but we do between our two organisations have examples in our history of where we have been successful in other motorsports categories, and that is true of Cadillac and Andretti.

“With that said, our joint teams are continuing to develop our car at pace. So, that is where we are at.”

Jim Campbell, GM

Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Campbell played down the suggestion that GM had felt insulted by a statement that suggested that the project would not be competitive.

“As I said, we believe in the application we submitted,” he said. “And in that application we articulated the abilities of both Andretti as a race team, and Cadillac as a manufacturing and engineering entity.

“So, we feel confident in the application and are asking for a meeting with FOM.”

When asked if Cadillac's own power unit could be ready any earlier than 2028, Campbell pointed out that the marque was in any case restricted by the FIA regulations.

“When you register to be a power unit, there is a deadline to do that, and for us it was last June for 2028,” he said.

“If you wanted to develop an engine sooner, then you would have had to register the previous year for that. So, it’s simply a regulation.”