General Motors brand Cadillac is allegedly nearing an acquisition of Renault’s 2026 Formula 1 engine information to aid its own project, according to a report.
The Renault Group has made a dramatic choice to cease production of its Formula 1 power units at the end of 2025, favouring a customer engine deal for its beleaguered Alpine outfit.
For many reasons that decision hasn’t gone well with the engine staff at Viry-Chatillon, not least because they’d already been working in earnest on a 2026 power unit.
However, all that effort might not have been a waste, as according to reporter Joe Saward, Cadillac is allegedly trying to acquire the intellectual property attached to Renault’s 2026 F1 engine development.
The reason Cadillac is interested in acquiring such information as it harbours plans to develop an F1 power unit by 2028.
Those plans are wrapped in the American marque’s involvement with the prospective Andretti Formula 1 bid.
In an effort to woo Formula 1 into allowing his eponymous team to join the grid in 2026, Michael Andretti brought Cadillac in as a partner.
The plan was to contest two seasons with a customer engine before Cadillac had its own power unit ready for the 2026 season.
Formula One Management rejected Andretti’s bid to join the gird in 2026 last year, deferring any entry further down the line.
“We would look differently on an application for the entry of a team into the 2028 Championship with a GM power unit, either as a GM works team or as a GM customer team designing all allowable components in-house,” F1 said upon rejecting Andretti’s initial bid.
Still no F1 entry on the horizon for Andretti Cadillac
Since then, Andretti has continued to work toward joining the F1 grid in 2026, despite not agreeing terms with FOM.
The team opened a site at Silverstone and has even recruited former F1 Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds, who will join the outfit as an Executive Engineering Consultant after a period of gardening leave.
There’s little likelihood of Andretti making it onto the 2026 grid, but Cadillac’s proposed move to press on with engine development ahead of 2028 tilts balance in the prospective team’s favour for a deferred entry,
Moreover, Cadillac, a renowned marque in other motorsport series such as IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship, will be able to deploy its experience to Renault’s F1 product.
Still, an F1 entry in 2028 is by no means guaranteed for Andretti Cadillac, but perhaps Renault can offer more than just information.
With the Viry contingent of the Alpine squad offloaded, the Esntone element of the F1 team itself becomes easier to sell.
Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo has ruled out a sale of his F1 team, but if performances improve with a customer engine deal in 2026, the value of the team will improve with it.
For the right price, perhaps Alpine could sold to an enthusiastic buyer in the form of Andretti Cadillac.
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