F1 engine supplier candidates from Honda and Andretti Cadillac[F1-Gate.com]

Honda has emerged as the logical choice for General Motors (GM) to supply F1 engines to Cadillac Racing, which is looking to enter F1 in partnership with Andretti Global.

Andretti announced Thursday that it has partnered with General Motors to offer the FIA ​​an expression of interest to enter F1 as soon as possible. If successful, the team will operate under the Cadillac brand.

GM’s involvement in the project caused a surprise. The American manufacturer is not believed to have any plans to build its own F1 power unit from 2026, and the registration deadline has passed.

However, GM chairman Mark Reuss revealed that he has already reached an agreement with current F1 engine makers to use F1 powerplants.

“We have a contract with our power unit supplier as a start,” said Mark Reuss.

“And as we move forward, we also bring a lot of experience to create things for the future.”

Michael Andretti added, “I think it will be a collaboration with another producer.”

Neither Mark Reuss nor Michael Andretti have provided details on which manufacturer they intend to partner with, but the most logical would be Honda.

Honda officially withdrew from F1 at the end of 2021, but recently announced that it has registered with the FIA ​​as a manufacturer so it can produce powerplants to F1 2026 regulations.

It also shows that Honda is willing to hand over its intellectual property to Red Bull for the next few years to allow other companies to brand their products.

Cadillac and Honda have a long-standing automotive business partnership on electric vehicles, and the two companies already have a good relationship.

When specifically asked about Honda’s planned partnership, Mark Reuss said:

“Obviously, we have a great partnership with Honda on the EV side. We also compete with Honda in series like IndyCar.”

“So we have a natural respect and relationship. It doesn’t matter at all. We’ll talk about this part of the engine later.”

Another option Andretti was considering was Renault, a French automaker keen to add customers to its roster in the future.

Red Bull is also considering finding a manufacturer partner to badge its power unit from 2026, and has recently been rumored to work with Ford.

For GM, the opportunity to partner with Andretti’s F1 entry, combined with the ability to have instant access to F1-spec engine technology, means it makes sense.

As for why GM is currently focusing on F1, Mark Reuss said: “I’ve always wanted to be in F1, at least in my career, but for various reasons it’s been quite difficult to do so.”

“Whether it was the leadership, the money at the time, or where the company was, where the economy was, whatever those reasons were, they were different over time.”

Andretti said it had started recruiting engineers for its F1 project and had already appointed a technical director.

“We do a lot of hiring,” said Michael Andretti.

“We already have quite a few people working for us.”

“We have hired the chief engineer. We are very advanced. We have already hired a technical director and will also announce it in the future.”

Category: F1 / Honda f1 / Andretti