Cadillac F1 Could Be for Sale After Debut Season, Sportico Claims $3 Billion Ask

Cadillac F1 could be up for sale before its first season even ends. Mark Walter, who controls the team through TWG Global, is asking at least $3 billion, and at least seven parties are interested, Sportico reporter Kurt Badenhausen wrote on November 2. He cited three people familiar with the process.

Walter is “shopping his Cadillac F1 team,” according to Sportico, which said TWG didn’t immediately answer its request for comment. That would be a U-turn. A TWG spokesperson told IndyStar in August that the company was “not considering a sale of the Cadillac F1 team,” and TWG repeated the message in a longer statement on August 26.

Bloomberg reported on November 3 that buyers have started circling, though TWG hasn’t agreed to a deal or announced that the team is on the market. General Motors, Cadillac’s partner in the project, declined to comment on the Sportico report, according to IndyStar.

Walter’s Asset Sales and Federal Probes Fuel the Questions of Cadillac F1 Sale

The report follows a run of deals by Walter. He sold the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion to a group led by Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, about 14 months after buying the NBA team. He sold his Chelsea stake in September, and he told The California Post last week that the Dodgers aren’t for sale.

Two federal investigations are looking at related-party deals that weren’t disclosed at insurance companies Walter controls through Guggenheim Partners, according to Sportico. No charges have been filed, and TWG denies any fraud. The Race reported in August that the probes don’t implicate the Cadillac team.

The Cadillac garage felt the heat in August. Adrian Atkinson, a General Motors motorsports communications executive, read the TWG denial unprompted at the Dutch Grand Prix. At the same briefing, new team principal Marcin Budkowski, who replaced founding boss Graeme Lowdon, was asked if he’d sought assurances about the probe. “There’s no influence there,” he told reporters, according to Crash.net.

Cadillac F1’s Rough Debut Raises the Stakes

The sale report landed a day after a bad Sunday in Mexico City. Valtteri Bottas crashed out on Lap 44 when his front-left suspension failed under braking, though he escaped injury. Teammate Sergio Perez finished 17th (later promoted to 16th), and Cadillac still hasn’t scored a point.

Money is part of the story. TWG and General Motors paid a $450 million dilution fee and put in at least $1 billion more to get the team running. According to Sportico, the team expects to lose about $400 million this season, mostly because of startup costs and a sponsorship and commercial side that’s still growing.

A $3 billion ask might not scare off buyers. Sportico valued the other 10 teams at an average of $3.42 billion last year, up 48% in 12 months. What a buyer would get is less clear, because TWG holds control, but the ownership split with General Motors is unknown.

CEO Dan Towriss has asked for patience from the start. Before the season opener, he told NPR he hoped Cadillac would win a race “before the end of the decade.” The team also gave Perez a new deal recently, so the on-track plans haven’t stopped.

Cadillac F1 heads to São Paulo this weekend with no points and an open question about who will own it next. So far, TWG hasn’t answered the report publicly, and General Motors has declined to comment. Expect the paddock to start asking the questions soon.

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