A new interview with Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports which heads Cadillac’s incoming Formula 1 team, has revealed new details about the “very political” nature of the outfit’s negotiations with Formula 1.

According to Towriss, further complicating things was the fact that certain elements of Cadillac’s proposal “weren’t well understood” by Liberty Media, ultimately resulting in Michael Andretti’s decision to step back from his role at the head of the team.

How ‘very political’ talks transformed the Cadillac F1 bid

In 2023, the FIA announced that it would be soliciting applications from prospective race teams that were interested in joining Formula 1, with the intention of reviewing those applications for their viability in the long term.

Of the four applications received by the FIA, only one proceeded. This entry was submitted by Andretti Global, the team helmed by Michael Andretti, the son of 1978 Formula 1 World Champion Mario Andretti. The team was public about its F1 bid, which was soon supported by Cadillac, a subsidiary brand of American auto company General Motors, as well as Andretti co-owner Dan Towriss.

The FIA approved the entry, which was then passed on to Liberty Media and Formula One Management — owners of Formula 1 and managers of the sport’s commercial rights — for further evaluation. The FOM ultimately rejected Andretti with a scathing judgement that implied the Andretti family name would not provide enough value to the sport to justify accepting it. However, it left the door open for Cadillac, which had expressed interest in becoming an engine supplier in the future.

The Andretti family spoke with US Congress, which opened an antitrust investigation into Formula 1, while at a party ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei allegedly told Mario Andretti:  “Mario, I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to see that Michael [Andretti] never enters Formula 1.”

In a shocking move, Michael Andretti stepped back from the running of his own team in October of 2024. Dan Towriss, head of Group1001 and TWG Motorsports, took over, and the following month, Cadillac F1 gained a provisional entry to F1 for the 2026 season.

Now, Towriss has spoken out about the “very political” nature of the ongoing talks with Formula 1, and the impact it may have had on the final acceptance of Cadillac’s F1 bid.

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Speaking to a group of select media including IndyStar at IndyCar’s season opener, the Grand Prix of St. Pete, Dan Towriss revealed that Michael Andretti had approached him in late August and early September to discuss a hierarchy change.

“He started to express a desire to step away and that it wasn’t fun at that point,” Towriss told media.

“At that point, it’s like, ‘Okay, let’s figure out how to do that.’ But obviously we’ve had a lot invested in Andretti Global and [IndyCar] as a whole, so how do we make this as smooth a transition from that standpoint?”

Towriss was able to step up and take on a greater role as the team entry shifted away from Andretti and toward a more purely Cadillac focus, though he also revealed the challenges that accompanied the ongoing process of convincing F1 to see the value of the team.

“As someone on the inside, the pressure was intense,” Towriss admitted, as reported in IndyStar.

“There were some very difficult meetings with F1 and other things happening outside, and when you put these other motorsports series together, it’s a big operation, and so I think it kinda brought us to that place.”

Though Towriss’ interest in motorsport is relatively fresh — he first got involved in racing through a sponsorship of Zach Veach for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 before falling in love and heavily investing in Andretti — his experience in the world of business seemed to serve him well as the talks grew more challenging

“It just got very political,” Towriss said.

“There were aspects of the bid that weren’t well understood [by Liberty Media], and it was just difficult. They felt strongly about certain issues…”

According to IndyStar, a journalist immediately asked, “Was Michael Andretti one of those issues they felt strongly about?

Towriss responded, “You just have to go back to Greg [Maffei]’s quote. He said what he said.”

That’s a direct reference to Maffei’s comment to Mario Andretti about his son.

Before the 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off in full force, the FIA and FOM announced that Cadillac F1’s provisional acceptance to the 2026 grid was fully confirmed, and that the American manufacturer had proven it deserved a spot.

Some American motorsport fans have felt a bit uneasy about the wholesale rejection of Michael Andretti, but at St. Pete, the former boss told media, including IndyStar, “I’m feeling good. I am happy.

“Everyone’s telling me that, and I didn’t realize I was that miserable when I was here before, but you’re always tense or thinking about what you’ve got to do next.

“Now, it’s not my problem. I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m very happy.”

Cadillac will join Formula 1 as a Ferrari customer team in 2026, with the intention of developing its own in-house power units by the end of the decade.

Read next: Ranked: The ten drivers on Cadillac shortlist in order of likelihood