F1 must “put forward correct proposal” for Cadillac anti-dilution fee

The arrival of Cadillac as Formula 1’s 11th team in 2026 must be met with adequate compensation for dilution in prize money earnings for the existing squads, says Williams boss James Vowles.

F1’s Concorde Agreement, which defines the prize money columns in F1, sets out an anti-dilution fee that any accepted new teams must pay to offset any loss in earnings. The current agreement puts this value at $200 million, although this expires at the end of 2025.

A new sum is yet to be formally agreed for 2026, although the teams had earlier wanted to hike the fee up to $600 million – noting the growth of F1 since the current agreement was signed.

Vowles, who had outlaid his opposition to the initial Andretti entry a year ago on the basis that it would cost Williams, said that he was always in support of General Motors and Cadillac entering F1 – and added that it was now up to the championship’s commercial rights holder FOM to adequately mitigate any financial impact.

“To have a major OEM like GM joining us, I think it’s just a sign of the growth, a sign of where Formula 1 is going,” Vowles said.

“I don’t think there’s actually any defined amount of dilution fee. That’s a part of the 2026 Concorde Agreement, which hasn’t been ratified at this point. 

General Motors announcement

Photo by: General Motors

“What I’ve said all the way through is it will have financial loss for existing teams. What we have to do now is grow the sport sufficiently and FOM need to be aware of that in order to make things good for everyone.

“It’s down to them to put forward a correct proposal.”

RB team principal Laurent Mekies agreed with Vowles’ assessment, adding that GM’s addition to the grid expands on F1’s “battle of giants” with another manufacturer entity.

He hopes that the discussion over the correct remuneration for teams will ultimately become a small footnote in F1’s growth.

“It’s a fantastic sign for the sport; it’s going to be pretty much all car manufacturers probably except for Williams and us – even Haas is also linked to a car manufacturer now,” he said.

“[F1 is] a battle of giants, and it’s another sign that the sport is going towards that direction of a battle of giants.

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal, VCARB Formula One Team

Photo by: Erik Junius

“Details of the financials, they are still under discussions and hopefully they become small in the big picture of where the sport can go for its next level.”

When asked if the teams were concerned that Cadillac would have a head-start on the 2026 regulations as it currently does not fall under the FIA’s governance, Vowles stated that it was unlikely that the team could do much given the full scope of the aerodynamic regulations is not set in stone.

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack added that, even if any advantage was derived from having a head-start, this would be offset by the time and investment spent on building the team from scratch.

“I think it’s a monumental task, setting up a team for 2026 with also a complete different set of regulations,” Krack said. 

“There is also no governance around the time before ‘minus 12 [months]’, so to say. Whatever anyone does before that is up to them, as nobody has any means to regulate that.

“But then I think, from 1 January, it’s only 12 months to set all this up and make a car. I think that is a big task. So even if there was a small head-start, I think it will balance out very quickly.”