Cadillac is entering Formula 1 with big-brand swagger and a long-term plan to race with American-made engines by the end of the decade. In the short term, expectations are brutally realistic, but this is still a team intent on making noise from day one. That intent will be made clear when Cadillac unveils the livery of its first F1 car during a Super Bowl commercial Sunday. Such a move is a statement and arrival aimed as much at mainstream America as at a paddock that, for years, questioned whether the brand belonged on the grid at all. Race winners Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, familiar faces to any Formula 1 fan, will line up as the team’s drivers at its debut, the Australian Grand Prix on March 8. But how did they get there? What are the team’s expectations? And what’s the story behind its big-money car reveal Sunday? Here’s everything you need to know about F1’s newest American team. Why now for F1’s 11th team? Cadillac is the first team to join Formula 1 in a decade: Haas, owned by American toolmaker Gene Haas, was the last to do so, in 2016. The sport has changed fundamentally in that time. It is now owned by Americans in Liberty Media, which has transformed the sport from top to bottom. A boom in popularity and global relevance, often credited to Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” and later crystallized by the 2025 blockbuster movie “F1,” laid the foundations for expansion from 10 to 11 teams. That turned the idea of “an American team” from a novelty into a commercial gold mine, but it was still a rocky road from concept to deliverance. Originally fronted by former IndyCar champion Michael Andretti, son of racing legend Mario, the project was snubbed by Formula 1’s existing teams, which were reluctant to dilute a rapidly growing prize fund by admitting an upstart entry. Effectively, the other teams believed they had been at the table when the feast was less bountiful but had stuck with it, so why should a new dinner guest waltz in and get to enjoy it the same as them now that the party was rocking? Even General Motors’ decision to increase its own involvement, shuffling Michael Andretti out of the project and formally adding the Cadillac name to the bid, did not loosen the opposition at first, leading to the U.S. Congress to question whether F1’s stance violated the country’s anti-competition laws. “We ran into a lot of obstacles, a lot of voices telling us not just ‘no,’ but ‘never,'” said Dan Towriss, head of TWG Motorsports, the company working with General Motors on the project, in November. Cadillac’s eventual entry came with a significant financial concession. Under Formula 1’s regulations, new teams are required to pay an anti-dilution fee to compensate existing competitors for the impact on prize money, with Cadillac agreeing to pay $200 million for a seat at that table. Why no American driver? One of the stated aims of the original Andretti bid was to debut with an American driver, yet Cadillac will line up with Mexico’s Pérez and Finland’s Bottas. That represented the best available lineup to Cadillac: two drivers with race-winning experience and who both experienced championship-winning teams from the inside — Pérez as Max Verstappen ‘s teammate at Red Bull and Bottas as Lewis Hamilton ‘s running mate at Mercedes. With the learning curve expected to be steep, getting experience for both sides of the garage was seen as key in helping the team progress. Waiting on the sidelines is perhaps the future of the team: