- Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss says the GM power unit ahead of schedule.
- Ferrari’s IP stays separate from GM’s engine lab in North Carolina.
- Regulatory uncertainty, but Towriss says nothing will delay a Cadillac.
Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss has confirmed the General Motors power unit programme is running ahead of schedule and remains on course to debut in Formula 1 in 2029.
Speaking to a select group of journalists, Towriss offered the clearest picture yet of where the engine project stands, how the team is managing its intellectual property alongside a Ferrari supply deal, and why regulatory uncertainty will not slow the team down.
The project is moving faster than expected
Building a Formula 1 power unit from nothing is a brutal undertaking.
It demands years of work, hundreds of millions of dollars, and an engineering operation capable of competing against manufacturers who have spent decades refining their craft.
For Cadillac, which only entered F1 in 2026, the challenge is doubled: the team is racing as a customer while simultaneously building the engine it hopes will one day replace that arrangement.
GM Performance Power Units, the division responsible for the engine programme, was established in 2025 and is based in Concord, North Carolina.
The FIA originally registered GM as a power unit supplier from 2028. That target was later revised to 2029. Towriss says the team is comfortably on track.
“So the project is ahead of schedule, actually,” Towriss said via comments shared on X. “As of right now, we’re slated to bring the Cadillac PU online to compete in 2029.”
That is a significant statement. Being ahead of schedule on a project this complex does not happen by accident. It points to an operation that knows what it is doing.
Until 2029, Cadillac races with Ferrari power. Towriss was warm about that relationship, and notably about Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
“Ferrari has been great to work with,” he said. “Fred and his team have been really good and supportive from that standpoint, even through Barcelona. We’re very happy with the Ferrari relationship and how that’s going.”
Keeping IP completely separate
Ferrari supplying engines to a team that is building its own competing power unit raises an obvious question: where does one programme end and the other begin? Towriss was direct about it.
“In terms of IP, yeah, everybody’s got to bring their own IP, right,” he said. “So Ferrari has theirs, and with the GM Performance Power Units group, that’s part of the Formula 1 team, we’re developing our own IP.”
He was clear that no technical information crosses between the two streams.
“We’re going to be a customer team of Ferrari, while we’re building our PUs, and that’s going to be GM work,” he said.
GM and its partner, TWG, established GM Performance Power Units LLC specifically to build the Cadillac engine. Russ O’Blenes, a longtime GM engine designer, leads the division.
The customer deal with Ferrari covers what goes on the car this season. What happens in Concord stays in Concord.
The 2031 question hangs in the air
Here is where the story gets more complicated. The current power unit regulations, which came into force in 2026, were designed to run through 2031.
But there are conversations happening within the sport about whether those rules might change earlier, possibly to simpler and cheaper engines.
If the regulations shift in 2030, the GM power unit could race for just one season under the current framework before needing a fundamental redesign.
It is a genuine risk, and Towriss did not pretend otherwise. “There’s some developing PU regulations as well, so we’re keeping a close eye on all of that,” he said. “It’s possible that the regulations could change before 2031. It’s possible that they don’t change before 2031.”
But he was equally clear about where his priorities lie.
“Regardless of the funding, I think it’s important that we see a Cadillac power unit on the grid as soon as possible. That’s really the main focus, from my standpoint.”
The message carries a certain resolve. The rules might shift. The landscape might change. But Towriss has no intention of letting uncertainty become an excuse for delay.
What this means for Cadillac F1
Cadillac paid $450 million to enter Formula 1, more than twice what was originally demanded. That kind of investment does not buy patience. It buys ambition and the expectation of something lasting.
When the GM engine eventually lines up on an F1 grid in 2029, it will face Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi and the Ford-backed Red Bull power unit programme.
These are not small rivals. They are manufacturers with decades of formula racing experience. For Cadillac to arrive at that table ahead of schedule is a statement of intent.
The 2029 date is not just a milestone. It is the moment Cadillac F1 stops being a customer and starts being something else entirely.
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