Ford vs GM comes to F1: Why the latest war of words between American giants matters

Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the front of Ford GT in 2017 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta - Osajus, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In 2026, America’s defining automotive rivalry finally enters F1, as Ford return to the sport through an engine partnership with Red Bull while General Motors (GM) debuts its very own team in Cadillac. 

Making up two of the ‘Big Three’ American car manufacturers (alongside Chrysler), Ford and GM have battled it out for over a century to dominate the US auto industry, spilling over into motorsports since the early days of professional stock car racing (NASCAR), as well as in IMSA GT and Le Mans.   

But never have these two giants taken each other on at the very pinnacle of motorsport, and while it is expected they will compete at opposite ends of the F1 grid in 2026, a war of words between the teams has already begun. 

What’s been said?

Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss and Team Principal Graeme Lowdon at the 2025 Italian GP - Getty Images

Somewhat fittingly, it all started at the Las Vegas GP in November, when Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss downplayed Ford’s involvement with Red Bull Powertrains when compared to GM’s support of Cadillac’s entry as F1’s 11th team. 

“It’s not even close,” Towriss told a group of reporters. “One is a marketing deal with very minimal impact, while GM is an equity owner. They’re deeply embedded from an engineering standpoint, and they were involved from day one. 

“Those two deals couldn’t be more different.”

Speaking to The Athletic in the build up to Red Bull’s 2026 launch in Detroit on Thursday, Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford and the great-grandson of Henry Ford, responded to Towriss’ comments, labelling them as “patently absurd.” 

“I would say, actually, the reverse is true. They’re running a Ferrari engine. They’re not running a Cadillac engine. I don’t know if they have any GM employees on the race team. If anything looks like a marketing effort, that does.” 

Ford is right to point out that Cadillac are not using their own engines in 2026, as they will be supplied by Ferrari for the next three seasons, but from 2029 they will do –having already registered with the FIA as a supplier through GM Performance Power Units LLC. 

Red Bull Team Principal and CEO Laurent Mekies shakes hands with Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford, at the Red Bull season launch in Detroit, Michigan - Getty Images

Bill Ford’s son, Will, also told The Athletic: “Nothing could be further from the truth, in terms of our partnership with Red Bull being a marketing effort.

“We could have spent a lot of money to slap our logo on a car, or to put our name alongside a team. But we made a very deliberate decision to form Red Bull Ford Powertrains as a true technical partnership, and really complement the audacious effort that Red Bull decided to set down on in developing their own power unit.”

It is safe to say the exchange has caused quite the stir. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr, who spent his entire NASCAR career behind the wheel of a Chevrolet - another GM brand - reacted to the spat on social media. 

On X, Earnhardt Jr wrote: “Damn let’s go. I miss these manufacturer wars. The battle is back on! I love it. Kick their ass @TeamChevy.”

Why it matters

A Ford Mustang chases the Chevrolet Camaro during Round 2 of the 1970 Trans-American Sedan Championship, held at the Lime Rock Park circuit in Lakeville, Connecticut - Getty Images

Ford vs GM is one of the great automotive rivalries, America’s defining battle both in terms of production and motorsport competition. 

While the Ford Motor Company we know today was created in Detroit in June 1903, founder Henry Ford’s first attempt at a car manufacturing company came two years earlier but collapsed due to his dispute with investors, who reorganised what was left following Ford’s departure to found the Cadillac Automobile Company in August 1902. 

Ford went on to revolutionise car manufacturing with the introduction of the assembly line for its single product, the Model T, while GM, founded as a holding company for Buick and Oldsmobile in 1908, rapidly set about acquiring independent American brands to offer what Ford could not: variety. 

Within a year, Cadillac and Oakland (Pontiac) and what eventually became General Motors Truck Company were on board, with Chevrolet added in 1918, and by 1927, GM had surpassed Ford in sales. 

The two have gone toe-to-toe ever since to create iconic rivalries between their production vehicles - Mustang vs Camaro, F150 vs Silverado, and now the EV market becomes the latest battleground in the 2020s. 

Matthew Payne's Ford Mustang GT followed by James Golding's Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the 2025 Bathurst 1000 - Getty Images

On track, the rivalry is equally fierce. Since 1949, GM’s Chevrolet have won 881 NASCAR races to Ford’s 748 - third placed on that all-time list is Dodge on 217. 

In endurance racing, the Ford GT and Chevrolet Corvette have battled it out both in the North American IMSA series and the World Endurance Championship (WEC), while the rivalry between the Ford Falcon and GM’s Holden Commodore defined Australian V8 Supercar racing in the 1990s, with legendary races at Bathurst and Sandown. 

Speaking of WEC, Ford and Cadillac will also directly compete against each other in the hypercar class from 2027 onwards, as Ford returns to the highest tier of endurance racing for the first time in nearly 60 years to take on both longtime rivals GM and Ferrari at Le Mans. 

With all that said, Ford vs GM finally coming to F1 is certainly a big deal, especially as the sport only continues to expand its presence in the US. 

F1’s US expansion

The Las Vegas Strip Circuit, 2025 Las Vegas GP - Getty Images

Ford and Cadillac enter F1 at a golden age with regard to the sport’s relationship with the States. 

In 2016, the US held only one Grand Prix, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Today, Austin has its place on the calendar secure until at least 2035, alongside Las Vegas, expected to stay beyond its 2027 contract expiry into the next decade, and remarkably, the Miami GP is locked in until 2041. 

Midway through 2025, F1 revealed a year-on-year viewership growth at 12 of the first 14 races on ESPN in the US, with seven setting event viewership records. In June, F1: The Movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, became the largest-grossing sports film of all time and the highest-grossing Apple film, achieving over $600 million at the box office. 

F1’s US fanbase has also reached 52 million, and is also the largest F1 market for YouTube viewership and social media followers, with social followers up 26% year-on-year according to F1 themselves. 

Apple then won exclusive US broadcast rights for F1 from 2026 onwards in a five-year deal worth around $750 million, making F1 available to all Apple TV subscribers without an additional charge. 

Haas have been the US’ sole representative on-track since 2016, but GM and Ford clearly sense an opportunity to gain further support from home in 2026, regardless of their respective levels of involvement. 

Both Red Bull and Racing Bulls launched their 2026 cars on Thursday in Detroit, one of the US’ most iconic cities and birthplace of its auto industry, while Cadillac have taken a Super Bowl ad slot to unveil their challenger on February 8th, and target over 120 million US viewers while doing so. 

While Ford and GM will likely not have too many battles on-track in 2026, Earnhardt Jr may still very well be right – their war for America has only just begun.