

MIAMI — General Motors’ plans to enter Formula One with its Cadillac team from next year and build an engine by 2029 have not been affected by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to the company’s president, despite a $5billion (£3.8bn) impact.
Cadillac will join the grid as an 11th team, initially racing with Ferrari engines before a GM-produced power unit is ready for 2029.
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But the auto industry has been heavily impacted by the introduction of new tariffs by the Trump administration. Despite reversing a number of the planned tariffs on imports in recent weeks, a 25 percent tariff remains in place.
Cadillac will have the most considerable U.S. presence of any F1 team when it races next year, operating out of facilities in Fishers, Indiana, as well as in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team also has a satellite facility at Silverstone in the UK.
Speaking to media on Saturday at the Miami Grand Prix, GM president Mark Reuss said the tariff situation would not impact its plans to enter F1.
“This is a long-term footprint that we have that are very old in some cases, that have been there a long time,” Reuss said. “So we’re working to bring as much as we can into the United States and avoid the tariffs. But not at all cost, and it doesn’t happen overnight. There’s no light switch that says, ‘Oh, all of a sudden we’re tariff-free.’
“You probably would have seen over the last few days, we did earnings on the early part of the week, and then we came back and did the earnings review and guidance.
“In that second one, there’s about $5bn of impact for us. But it’s not going to affect this (F1) project.”
Graeme Lowdon, the team principal of the Cadillac team, acknowledged to The Athletic in an interview on Friday that it would “add a complication” given its American presence, but that it was different compared to a road-focused automotive manufacturer.
“If their business is either importing or exporting every day, then it’s clearly a bigger challenge,” Lowdon said.
“Our business is kind of a little bit different, where we’re constantly moving things around the world, so tariffs add a complication, but it’s just one more thing that we need to deal with.
“From a team point of view, it’s just kind of one more thing that’s a bit more complicated than it was.”
Cadillac ‘committed’ to American driver — but not a must for 2026.
Reuss was present in Miami for this weekend’s grand prix at a time when Cadillac’s F1 plans are starting to gather steam. The team has a launch event planned for Saturday night, but it will not be presenting any drivers.
Lowdon denied in his interview with The Athletic that the team had already signed any drivers for next year, contrary to recent reports linking former Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez with Cadillac.
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Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports that owns and operates the Cadillac team, said it was not “not in a hurry” to select a driver but acknowledged the shortlist “certainly includes the names that many people are talking about”.
The team has always been planned as an all-American outfit, something that may even extend to the driver line-up. IndyCar’s Colton Herta, who races for the TWG-owned Andretti Global team, is one name that has regularly been linked with potentially making the switch to F1.
Towriss said that while Cadillac was “committed to having an American driver” in its F1 team, it was “important to all of us to do it in the right way,” and there was no rush to get an American in the car for 2026.
“We want that person set up for success, and want that seat respected when that American driver does come in for the team,” Towriss said. “So we’re really formulating that process so we’re committed to that.
“We’ll find the right way and the right time to bring the right driver into Formula One.”
Additional reporting by Madeline Coleman.
(Top photo: Graeme Lowdon. Sipa USA)
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