Team bosses do not fear from a "head start" for General Motors
Following the announcement of the expansion of the current F1 grid, F1 team bosses claim that they do not have any fear from a potential head start for General Motor's Cadillac team.
General Motors and TWG Global have recently confirmed that they have reached an agreement in principle with Formula 1 to bring a Cadillac team to the series in 2026.
In addition, the US car giant is also launching an F1 power unit that will put the Cadillac Formula 1 Team on the path to being a “full works” team — building its own F1 vehicles and power units — by the end of the decade. However, the new team will be powered by Ferrari's power units in the first years.
Cadillac would be the first new team to join F1 since 2016 and the eleventh team on the grid.
Asked whether he has any concerns about a potential head start for the new GM team, Williams team boss James Vowles reckoned that the regulation have been so late finalized that the new team was not able to secure any benefits from not being restricted before the start of next year.
"They should not, and I don't believe they do. The set of regulations are not finished and need to be ratified. So in the last F1 commission, we still have quite a few aerodynamic elements that are outstanding. And it's the wet surfaces that are the tricky bit of it.
"Following that, if they are due to enter into 2026, they should fall under FIA ATR and also cost cap regulations in 2025. So is there a head start? It's potential this year, for example, when they're completely outside of any caps, maybe. But I think it's controlled fairly well under some FIA regulations. It's for the FIA to regulate next year."
Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack went as far as to claim that General Motors will be rather handicapped by the time frame, as they will need to set up a completely new team within a single year.
"Yeah, I agree. I think it's a monumental task to try now setting up a team for 2026 with also a completely different set of regulations. So there is also no governance around the time before N-12, so to say.
"So whatever anyone does before that is up to him, the FIA, or nobody has any means to regulate it. But then I think from January 1, it's only 12 months to set all this up and make a car. I think that is a big task. So even if there was a small head start, I think it will balance out very quickly.
VCARB team boss Laurent Mekies insisted that the new team will only be able to work without restrictions for a single month, but every outfit will be forced to operate under the same set of rules from the start of next year.
"I think as much as you can consider 2024 as being a space where you could have a head start, by the time January 1st turns up, then everything will be well controlled by the regulations and the task is still huge after that."
