General Motors is closing in on joining Formula 1 as the 11th team on the grid from the 2026 season, and Danica Patrick knows one ‘really good thing’ that GM can do for F1.
The pinnacle of motorsport is now looking likely to expand in two years’ time when it adopts new engine and chassis regulations. General Motors is making great strides in its bid to have a team in Formula 1, with Andretti no longer expected to have a role once the squad debuts.
Andretti led the charge to have a second American team on the F1 grid and secured backing from GM, via its Cadillac brand, in a bid to convince Liberty Media of the team’s worthiness. Yet it is now believed that Andretti will not be involved in GM’s team should F1 pull a U-turn.
Danica Patrick thinks GM would do a ‘really good thing’ for F1 hiring an American driver
Liberty Media, the commercial rights owners of Formula 1, rejected Andretti’s bid to join F1 back in January. It even suggested Andretti’s bid to become the 11th team “would not on its own add value” to F1. But Liberty Media is leaning towards sanctioning a GM-focused entry.
Andretti would continue to help GM in establishing the team ahead of debuting in F1 in the 2026 season. But Andretti, whose owner Dan Towriss is at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix to help GM work with F1, would step aside before the team races under F1’s 2026 regulations.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations
General Motors would also remain committed to becoming an engine manufacturer as soon as 2028 if Liberty Media accepts its bid to join F1. The team would have to buy engines from one of the existing suppliers for 2026 and 2027, with Honda or Ferrari the most likely routes.
Former NASCAR and IndyCar ace Patrick feels GM, which is yet to decide which of its brands would represent the team, would also do a ‘really good thing’ for F1 by naming an American driver. Williams fired Logan Sargeant in August to leave F1 without an American on the grid.
“They’re trying to grow the series,” Patrick said on Sky Sports F1 (23/11, 05:13). “Obviously, more races here in America. Having an American team, [an] American driver, [an] American manufacturer is a really good thing for the sport.
“It brings in new companies, it brings in other new companies that will come on the cars, as well. I think it’s all a really good thing all-round.”
Logan Sargeant is one of just three American F1 drivers since Michael Andretti in 1993
F1 is continually trying to expand its fanbase in America, helped by Drive to Survive. The Las Vegas GP joined the calendar in 2023 as one of three races in the USA, alongside the United States Grand Prix at COTA in Austin, Texas since 2012 and the Miami Grand Prix since 2022.
READ MORE: Five unforgettable Las Vegas GP moments including Sainz’s drain cover crash
America also got its first US-owned team since 1986 when Haas joined the grid in 2016. But the USA has often struggled to see one of its own regularly race in Formula 1, with Sargeant contesting just 37 entries before Williams terminated the Florida native’s contract in August.
The 23-year-old was the 233rd American to race in F1, albeit a figure skewed heavily due to Formula 1 having the Indianapolis 500 on its calendar between 1950 to 1960. Since Michael Andretti, who led the Andretti bid, raced in F1 in 1993, there have been three US F1 drivers.
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