Formula One will have a new team on the grid in 2026. Cadillac F1, a team by Michigan’s own General Motors, will be the first truly U.S.-based F1 team in over 50 years (Haas F1, despite its American owner, is based in Britain and uses an Italian power unit… debatably American).
This is a major development for the sport and its continued inroads into North America. It can mean only one thing—the inevitable return of the glorious, punishing Detroit Grand Prix.
Cadillac is an ironic name for an F1 team, given that Cadillac makes cars that drive like luxury cruise boats, with lofty, floaty suspensions and leather seats. F1 cars are the opposite—lean and mean, carbon fiber, aerodynamically optimized. Not your typical Caddie. Nevertheless, it’s a bold move, and an iconic brand, and extremely exciting for Americans, especially fans of the sport in Michigan.
Not only will GM be racing in F1 under the Cadillac sigil, it’s building a new power unit as well, slated to be available for teams in 2028. This is, arguably, an even bigger development than the new team. F1 has seen its power-unit choices dwindle over the last few years. Honda, Mercedes, and Ferrari are the only viable choices, with only Renault powering its own Alpine team and slated to sunset production in 2025.
For a sport like F1, in which car design and power units play an enormous role, an array of choices is crucial to keeping the sport competitive. A top-tier American-made power unit would be a huge symbol of America’s dominance if a European team starts running it. That’s ultimately how we’ll know GM’s effort is successful, more than its team’s podium finishes.
F1 has grown in popularity in America the last few years, in no small part due to Netflix’s popular streaming series, “Drive to Survive.” The show introduced me to the sport, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Motor racing is popular in America, with NASCAR and such, but F1 is truly the elite tier of global racing. It’s a competition of not just drivers, but constructors—the apex of technical engineering and human skill. Not to mention the danger, which is always inherent despite new safety measures like the “halo.” F1 is civilization, F1 is life.
Many forget that in the 1980s, Formula One raced on the streets of Detroit. The Detroit Grand Prix was known, in its time, as the most punishing race on the circuit. Hot temperatures and a challenging track, bumpy and poorly maintained (Michigan roads, sigh), made it a race of attrition. Just finishing the race was an achievement for most teams, with at least half the field prematurely retiring in each race.
Detroit played host to several legendary drivers. Ayrton Senna, the ill-fated three-time Brazilian champion who tragically perished at Imola, won the Detroit GP three times in row from 1987-88, for Lotus and McLaren. Niki Lauda, another three-time champion, raced it. Keke Rosberg, the 1982 champion, won it in 1985.
The Detroit GP only ran for seven years, but the history is built into the sport. The end of the race in 1988 came about, in no small part, as a result of short-sighted stubbornness of the city government (surprising no one). The street circuit, temporarily constructed each year like many similar F1 tracks, needed a permanent pit-lane facility, which the city refused to build. FISA, F1’s governing body, refused to sanction the race going forward, and that was that.
It didn’t help that, by its last year, the race was notoriously unpopular with drivers. They lambasted the poor track conditions in the 1988 race, with the track breaking up due to the hot weather and poor maintenance. A move to a new circuit on Belle Isle was considered, but they couldn’t come to an agreement.
IndyCar raced there instead, for a time. In 2023, IndyCar moved their Detroit race back to a downtown street circuit, one the Detroit city council approved with little hesitation. It’s a shorter track than the original, with only 10 turns instead of 18. It’s suitable for IndyCar but would need extensive safety and logistical modifications to host an F1 race.
IndyCar shows it’s possible, though, as do the other new American F1 races. The new Las Vegas Grand Prix is a great example of the potential for urban street circuits in America. Monaco, the most storied race in F1, still runs on the same streets it did 100 years ago (albeit with many upgrades).
Think about the symbolism of an American F1 team with a true home track. Ferrari has Monza. The British teams have Silverstone, their fans waving the Union Jack all around. Cadillac F1 racing on the streets of Detroit on a Michigan summer day, American flags waving, engines revving, and gasoline in the air. You won’t find a better symbol for the rejuvenation of America and Detroit than that.
F1 fans, put the pressure on. Squeeze city government, GM, and even F1 to restore the Detroit Grand Prix to new glory. Improve the street circuit in downtown Detroit, get it up to FISA standards, and get it on the calendar. Build it right this time, build it to last. Not just for entertainment, but as a reminder that we can still do beautiful things here, and even more, that we deserve them.
Bobby Mars is an artist, alter ego, and former art professor. Follow him on X @bobby_on_mars.
