Sergio Perez, Bottas’s teammate, in the Cadillac MAC-26 during Italian Grand Prix qualifying. Photo: Eustace Bagge, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Nobody outside TWG, General Motors and a few lawyers can say whether a slice of Cadillac’s Formula 1 team is actually being shopped. Nothing in the team’s own newsroom suggests it: the latest posts are a Mexico City race report, an energy partnership and Sergio Pérez’s contract extension. I can’t find a confirmation of any sale process from TWG, GM or the team, so treat the chatter as unconfirmed.
It is still a useful prompt, because it forces a blunt question: if you were buying into this team, what would you actually be buying? My argument is that it isn’t the thing on track. It’s an engine program that doesn’t race until 2029.
What a buyer would see on the timing screens
After 19 rounds, Formula 1’s official standings have Cadillac without a point. Valtteri Bottas is 23rd in the drivers’ table and Pérez 24th. In Mexico City on November 1, Pérez climbed from 20th on the grid to 17th at the flag, while Bottas retired on lap 46 after an incident the team says it will investigate. The team’s own report blamed equipment problems in both pit stops; Team Principal Marcin Budkowski said they “cost both drivers time and positions on track.”
Budkowski has been in the job since August 12, when the team announced he would replace Graeme Lowdon. Dan Towriss called the move “another important step in the continued evolution” of the team. I took a harder look at that handover when it happened. The short version: a first-season team with no points and a new boss is not being valued on results. Any buyer is paying for the grid slot, the factories in Silverstone, the Indianapolis area and Charlotte, and what comes next.
The asset sits next to the team, not inside it
Here’s what comes next. Cadillac runs Ferrari power units and gearboxes, a deal announced on December 11, 2024. That arrangement runs only until GM’s own engine is ready. In April 2025 the FIA approved GM Performance Power Units LLC, a company formed by TWG Motorsports and GM, as a power unit supplier with supply starting in 2029. GM described the aim as a “full works” team.
The team’s own releases describe it as backed by TWG Motorsports and General Motors and give no equity split, so I can’t tell you who owns what. That gap is the point. The part of this project with the longest runway and the most strategic value is an engine company with a car manufacturer attached to it. A new investor in the team would be stepping into a structure where GM’s plans, not the team’s results, set the ceiling. That’s my reading, not a reported fact, but it is the question I would want answered before signing anything.
Pérez’s deal points at the same year
On October 28 the team extended Pérez until at least 2029, a contract I read as a bet on timing, not points. Pérez said he was “fully committed for the next three years,” and Towriss said “building a competitive team in F1 is a long-term journey.” The end date lines up with the first year of the GM engine.
That cuts both ways. A seller wants a buyer to believe the planning horizon runs to 2029. A buyer should ask who is committed to it in writing. Budkowski, for what it’s worth, declined to confirm anyone’s 2027 contract at the Austin press conference, which tells you plenty about how tightly this team manages its messaging.
What to watch
Three things would turn rumor into news. First, any confirmation or denial from TWG or GM. Second, any change to the ownership of GM Performance Power Units, which would matter far more than a minority stake in the team. Third, a first point, with São Paulo next on the calendar. If the points arrive, the price conversation gets easier. If they don’t, the engine is the only story left.
Lead image: Sergio Pérez in the Cadillac MAC-26 during qualifying for the 2026 Italian Grand Prix. Photo: Eustace Bagge, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
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