FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has teased that a new carmaker could be announced in Formula 1 “as early as next week”, with it not set to be Porsche.
As the sport nears the new engine regulations that are being introduced in 2026, several manufacturers have been reportedly showing interest in trying to partner a current team.
Whilst Audi have already been confirmed for 2026 after acquiring a 75-percent stake in Sauber, Porsche, General Motors, Hyundai and Ford have all been linked to a switch to F1.
It was widely speculated last week that Porsche were going to announce a partnership with Williams; however, that has since been silenced somewhat.
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Whilst Porsche will likely continue to pursue a switch to the pinnacle of motorsport for 2026, General Motors (GM) are more than likely to feature in 2026 after partnering with Andretti Global, who have since received support from Ben Sulayem to enter a team into F1.
The vast majority of the current teams on the grid, though, are unhappy about Andretti-Cadillac (a division of General Motors) joining the grid, after believing that the automaker is going to use F1 as a “badging exercise”.
It’s speculated that General Motors won’t enter as an engine supplier for Andretti and will instead talk to the likes of Renault, with the French manufacturer having already given the Americans an engine.
“We signed an agreement with a supplier for an engine,” GM president Mark Reuss confirmed.
“If we go ahead, we’ll bring a lot of our know-how to develop things for the future as well.”
Ben Sulayem doesn’t understand how F1 can reject “someone like GM”, with Andretti seemingly ticking all the necessary boxes to enter a new American team into F1.
“I spoke to Mario and Michael Andretti at the Miami race weekend,” he told Auto Motor und Sport at the 2023 Monte Carlo Rally.
“We were very clear in our answer at the time. We want a manufacturer. We told Andretti to work with one if they were serious about it. We encouraged them and they delivered.
“How on earth could we say no to someone like GM?” Ben Sulayem added.
“We can add two more teams actually. That’s what the rules say. If they’re credible and they mean business, then we should let new teams come in.”
General Motors, though, might not be the only American automaker joining F1 in the near future, with Ford having been linked to Red Bull.
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Red Bull, of course, were initially linked to Porsche before talks collapsed, with Ford now being a contender to partnering the Austrians.
Given that Red Bull are launching their 2023 challenger in New York, some are questioning if this is a sign of a potential partnership with Ford, despite the Milton Keynes-based team being in a partnership with Honda until the end of 2025.
It appears that we won’t have to wait long, though, for a new manufacturer to be confirmed, with Ben Sulayem having revealed that “maybe as early as next week, another manufacturer could sign for the 2026 engine regulations”.