GM ‘interested’ in buying F1 team’s engines to help Andretti secure 2026 entry

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When Andretti was denied its chance of becoming the 11th team on the Formula 1 grid after several months of deliberations, the commercial rights holder left the door open for a potential 2028 entry.

Despite the rejection, Andretti has since stated that its work “continues at pace” having recently moved into a factory based in Silverstone and started work on building a chassis for the 2026 regulations.

One potential avenue is buying one of the existing 10 franchises on the grid such as Alpine, which was suggested by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, although Andretti is reportedly uninterested in doing such a thing with the French outfit.

Now it has been confirmed that Renault intends to scale back its involvement with its F1 power unit project, with Alpine switching to Mercedes engines, there could be another way back in for Andretti according to journalist Micheal Schmidt speaking on the Formel Schmidt podcast.

GM’s purchase of Alpine engines could pave the way for Andretti’s entry

In its rejection letter to Andretti, F1’s commercial rights holder states that it would view a future entry with General Motors “differently” either as a works or customer team, given the additional value the brand would bring to the championship.

Andretti plans to bring in GM as an OEM via the Cadillac brand, who have expressed interest in building an engine in the future that meets the 2026 specification. According to Schmidt, this could happen as early as 2026 if GM decides to purchase the existing Renault facilities based in Viry-Chatillon.

“There is a rumour that General Motors is interested in buying the intellectual property [from Renault]. Whether they want to get rid of it now, I can’t imagine it will be difficult for an American company in France,” said Schmidt.

“They’ll have a European headquarters, or maybe even in the USA, and they would then take everything with them. Then it would be ready to start straight away rather than in 2028.

“GM is a global car company and a so-called OEM in F1 speak and they can do that. For Andretti, in 2026 if the engine is there you can’t deny them [entry].”

Renault facilities best way for GM to deliver a competitive F1 engine

Although Renault has produced the least competitive power unit out of the four manufacturers on the current grid, it would be wise if GM took advantage of the existing facilities.

As Honda found out when it joined the grid in 2015, building an F1 power unit is a complicated task because it involves a mixture of hybrid and combustion technology.

The 2026 regulations are designed to make it easier for OEMs to enter the championship as power unit manufacturers by getting rid of the MGU-H element, but that does not make producing an engine that delivers on performance targets and reliability any more straightforward.

READ MORE: Everything we know about F1’s 2026 regulation changes so far from engines to tyres

Viry-Chatillon has lost some of its talent over the years, notably when the 2007 engine freeze came into effect during the V8 era. Long-time Renault engine technical director, Remi Taffin, also left the company in 2021 amid the purge of top executives during the transition to Alpine.

But steeped in the French outfit is decades worth of racing pedigree and expertise, with the American company only currently competing under the Cadillac brand in sportscar racing.