GM Looks To Make Engineering Gains With New F1 Team

InnovationTransportationGM Looks To Make Engineering Gains With New F1 TeamByBill Koenig,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the auto industry and its impact on almost everything.Follow AuthorApr 29, 2026, 07:00am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.SUZUKA, JAPAN - MARCH 27: Valtteri Bottas driving the (77) Cadillac F1 Team MAC-26 Ferrari on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit on March 27, 2026 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Michael Potts/LAT Images)LAT ImagesGeneral Motors Co., in its early days as a Formula One competitor, wants to boost its engineering efforts with the global racing series.“GM really wants to race,” Eric Warren, the company’s vice president of global motorsports competition, said in an interview. “We’re not just about sponsorship. It’s a long effort.”FIA and Formula One Management in March 2025 said that GM and its its partner TWG Motorsports met “requirements to join the existing 10 teams starting” in 2026. The new F1 team is branded as Cadillac, GM’s luxury brand. It ‘s the first new F1 team since 2016. Each F1 team has two racing cars.Racing series where GM competes have different characteristics. F1, Warren said, is a “technical meritocracy.” F1 teams “develop a car on an ongoing basis…The scope of development is really large.”The automaker says its involvement with F1 will show up in production vehicles. “Motorsports compresses years of learning into weeks,” Ken Morris, senior vice president, product programs, product safety, integration and Motorsports, said in a statement."It’s a real-world stress test for hardware and software at the extreme ends of use cases. We can review how components hold up, how systems communicate, and how we recover when conditions change. That’s the kind of learning that helps us deliver better vehicles, faster, with more confid...