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Payne: Cadillac F1 team creates buzz at Miami GP, including hopes for a synfuel future
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 6, 2025
The Formula One wars are in full swing for 2025, and the General is plotting its 2026 entry.
The F1 circus made its annual stop in Miami last weekend, and while the world’s best drivers slugged it out on track, General Motors Co.’s fledgling Cadillac F1 team was creating plenty of buzz in the paddock. Cadillac F1 hosted an exclusive event where it introduced its official logo. GM President Mark Reuss said the program would not be impacted by tariffs, and rumors swirled that Mexican Formula One driver Sergio Perez would join the team
But it was news that Cadillac F1’s drivetrain (or “power unit” in F1-speak) had been approved for entry in 2029 that has perhaps the greatest impact for the world’s premier motorsports series and the future of the auto industry.
“Cadillac is honored to share the F1 stage with the best luxury brands from around the world. It’s a brand whose legacy on and off the track is filled with innovation, technological precision and timeless beauty,” Reuss said in Miami. “Our journey has been long but from the very beginning, it has been about ambition … audacity … and now acceleration.”
Mark Reuss addresses the crowd at Crown Miamai Beach restaurant during the May 2-4 Miami GP weekend as Cadillac F1 introduced its team logo. Michelle Malcho, Michelle Malcho
When Cadillac F1 enters its first Grand Prix in Melbourne early next year, it will use a gas-electric hybrid power unit developed by Ferrari. But GM’s ultimate goal in Formula One — and the reason the open-wheel series accepted its entry — is joining the world’s elite automakers in 2028 as the sport transitions to so-called “sustainable,” non-fossil-fuel dependent drivetrains.
Manufacturers have long assumed this means electrified drivetrains that are powered 50/50 by a turbocharged V-6 gas engine/battery-electric motor hybrid. That assumption also has dovetailed with manufacturers’ plans to transition to all-electric drivetrains like Cadillac’s production lineup. Ford Motor Co., too, is joining F1 — though as a battery-supply partner to Red Bull racing, not a full power unit manufacturer like GM.
But an alternative is gaining ground: synthetic fuel.
As expected, Formula One’s governing body, the FIA (French-based Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) officially approved Cadillac F1’s entry for the 2026 season. But in a surprise, the team was allowed until 2029 (not 2028 as expected) to introduce its own power unit to join other makers like Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull-Ford and Honda.
The reason? The potential, according to motorsports insiders, to bypass costly, heavy battery technology and go straight to internal combustion engines powered by synthetic fuels — long the Holy Grail of green energy solutions.
The announcement “opens the door for (Cadillac F1) to enter at the same time the series could switch to a simpler V8 or V10 alternative,” reported motorsports insider publication The Race. “The timing of that date is interesting because that is the year . . . when F1 could move away from turbo hybrid engines and towards a cheaper and simpler power unit — like a V8/V10 that runs on fully sustainable fuel.”
Said veteran international motorsports writer Steven Cole Smith, special projects editor for Hagerty: “Everything is still on the table, and Formula One requirements are likely to change over the next few years. Cadillac does not want to have to change power units midstream.”
Cadillac F1 introduced its logo at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. GM, GM
The prospect of a shrieking V-8 or V10-powered Cadillac Formula One car storming the world’s greatest racetracks would send Motown enthusiasts into rapture.
But its implementation with synthetic fuel — not just for GM but for other teams — would solve a problem that has increasingly bedeviled the world’s automakers even as they have collectively vowed to government regulators that they want to transition to non-fossil-fuel-based drivetrains.
Simply put, the twin curses of battery costs and weight that have dogged the electrified vehicle market are magnified in motorsports, where lightweighting is crucial to performance and where organizers are determined to keep costs under control to maintain manufacturer participation.
“No one is happy with the 50/50 hybrid drive unit,” Cole Smith said. “Synthetic fuel makes a lot of sense.”
Adds The Race of a potential, 90/10 synfuel/battery solution: “A simpler kinetic energy recovery system and smaller batteries will be much more cost-efficient . . . and will also have an impact in reducing car weight — which remains a hot topic in F1.”
The synfuels topic has gained momentum across the automotive world. Sister sportscar racing series — North America’s IMSA and the international WEC — have developed mild-hybrid, electrified systems that allow V-8 engines from Cadillac, Ferrari, Porsche and BMW to compete (as well as a V-6 engines from Acura and a V-10 from Lamborghini), but they have also stressed the importance of synthetic fuels.
Porsche is particularly bullish on synfuels (also called e-fuels) and has been working with Exxon at a Chilean facility.
Russ O’Blenes, director of the GM Motorsports Propulsion and Performance Team, has been named CEO of GM Performance Power Units LLC, a newly formed business that will build powertrains for the Cadillac Formula 1 Team. GM, GM
“Porsche is way ahead of everyone else on synthetic fuels in Chile, and a new factory in Texas,” said Cole Smith. “And they are running a race series in Europe on synthetic fuels. Synfuels are getting a lot of attention as the weight penalty for hybrid-electric systems is significant.”
Like its fellow motorsports manufacturers, Porsche must navigate an international marketplace where governments from China to Europe are banning fossil fuel-fired engines. Yet a ban on gasoline would shortchange the millions of owners who would see their residual vehicle values crater.
Synfuels could not only keep these cars running — but would also allow race series to avoid the inherent drawbacks of batteries compared to ICEs.
“Putting off the power unit development until 2029 will help alleviate stress on the program,” said Hagerty’s Cole Smith. “Cadillac F1 has a lot to do to make the grid in 2026.”
Another stress point alleviated involves tariffs. Though GM recently estimated the Trump administration’s tariffs could cost the company $5 billion in annual earnings, Reuss told reporters in Miami that tariffs would not impact GM’s F1 investment.
“We’re working very hard,” Reuss told Autosport. “There’s about $5 billion of impact for us (as a result of tariffs), but it’s not going to affect this project.”
Cadillac F1 and its American racing partner, TWG Motorsports, showcased the team’s new logo in a dramatic video introduction at Queen Miami Beach lounge in the historic Paris Theater.
Rumors had swirled that the event would debut the team’s car livery and a new driver, Sergio Perez. Neither happened (despite a sea of fans chanting Perez’s nickname, “Checo,” outside the venue), but the event still provided plenty of information about the F1 entry.
An image of a Cadillac F1 car as part of the team’s video introducing its logo at the 2025 Miami GP. GM, GM
The brand sees the world’s motorsport as a way to remake Cadillac’s catchphrase as the “standard of the world.” The F1 entry dovetails with Cadillac reinvention as an EV brand as it expands sales into global markets — including Europe, where Cadillac has opened a flagship Paris showroom.
The video liberally mixed images of Cadillac’s hallowed design past — 1950s tailfins and rocket-shaped taillights — with its electric design future and screaming F1 car. The video ended with the tag words BOLD, INNOVATIVE, RELENTLESS before the Cadillac F1 logo exclamation point.
Cadillac recently joined other F1 manufacturers at a V-10 engine summit in Bahrain, at the invitation of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, to discuss F1’s long-term vision.
GM and TWG are building a dedicated F1 engine facility in Charlotte under the direction of veteran powertrain guru Russ O’Blenes. Speaking of F1’s approval of Cadillac’s 2029 power unit timeline, O’Blenes said: “With this approval, we will continue to accelerate our efforts to bring an American-built F1 power unit to the grid.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.