> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What's really happening with Cadillac F1 buyout talks - URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/cadillac-f1-buyout-talks-what-is-really-happening/ - Published: 2026-11-06T14:51:48.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T14:51:48.000Z - Description: Here's what's really happening with Cadillac and the potential sale of a stake in the team, behind the scenes of F1's latest boardroom drama - Author: Darren Cox - Tags: Business, Formula 1, #cadillac, #primary_homepage_feature Once upon a time, if you wanted to know who was buying into a Formula 1 team you could ask the bloke who owned it over coffee in the paddock. Try that with [Mark Walter](https://www.the-race.com/business/mark-walter-la-lakers-sale-what-it-could-mean-for-cadillac-f1-team/). Such is the way ownerships are now structured and managed in F1 there may only be one person in the paddock that actually knows something about the sale, someone with a freshly signed contract who appears to have let something slip on Thursday. When I recently dug into [who actually owns each F1 team](https://www.the-race.com/business/who-actually-owns-each-f1-team/), the distance we have travelled from the owner-operator days became very clear. The person running the team, the company whose name is above the garage, and the people who ultimately control the money can be three very different things. That matters when considering the potential sale of a stake in Cadillac's F1 team. There has been plenty of talk around the Austin and Mexico paddocks. But the reporting that has moved the story forward has come from American sporting and financial circles, led by Sportico, followed by the likes of the Wall Street Journal. The Race's journalists have been seeking confirmation in Brazil. That does not mean the answers are in Brazil. I have been told that these negotiations are being handled personally by Walter and a very small circle around him. People working at Silverstone, at the American facilities, or in the garage at Interlagos, could quite reasonably know very little about it. Cadillac has a struggling racing team and urgent challenges on track to resolve. Its owner has a collection of businesses and challenges of his own to manage, including federal investigations involving his insurance businesses. That is why Cadillac's stance that nothing has changed doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. My sources have indicated, for months, that a sale process is under way. Getting formal confirmation or anyone willing to speak on the record has proved rather harder, as is often the way with these things. The remaining question is what the outcome of that process will be. That is where the interest lies. The least surprising part is that somebody wants to buy in. ## Fenway among the prospective buyers As I have written before, there is a [substantial amount of money looking for a way into F1](https://www.the-race.com/business/how-horner-brown-wolff-made-their-fortunes-from-f1/) and very little available to buy. An interested investor cannot simply order another team off the shelf. Walter has meanwhile been selling sporting assets, including his interests in the Lakers and Chelsea, against the backdrop of reported financial pressures and federal investigations involving his insurance businesses. TWG denies wrongdoing. That wider situation matters far more to this transaction than Cadillac's latest qualifying position. It does not follow that Walter needed to begin by putting up a "for sale" sign. Prospective investors have been knocking on his door. In his circumstances, those conversations would be difficult to ignore. The Guardian has reported talks about a majority purchase by Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox among others. The preference on Walter's side appears to be a minority sale that allows him to retain control. A preference is not a completed deal. But the distinction matters. Lawrence Stroll provides a useful example. As we explored in the [ownership article](https://www.the-race.com/business/who-actually-owns-each-f1-team/), he has brought successive investors into Aston Martin while retaining commanding voting and governance rights. Economic ownership and control are different things. An owner can take money off the table, bring in another investor and still decide who sits in his second F1 seat. So, the percentage sold will tell only part of Cadillac's story. The rights attached to those shares may tell us considerably more. It is generally understood that Walter holds 67%, Dan Towriss 3% and General Motors 30%. Those figures have not been publicly confirmed and they do not tell us what approvals or protections GM has. That is a significant unknown. When I [interviewed Flavio Briatore](https://www.the-race.com/business/read-our-full-exclusive-interview-with-flavio-briatore/) about Otro Capital's proposed sale of its 24% Alpine stake, he made a practical point about Renault's position. Its formal veto period ran until September. But who would commit hundreds of millions of dollars to a minority stake without a workable relationship with the majority shareholder? A date passing on a contract does not remove the need to get along. GM's position at Cadillac is different and we should not assume identical rights. But any buyer would need to understand its relationship with the manufacturer whose name, investment and long-term commitment are central to the proposition. Seemingly well-informed in such matters, Sergio Perez offered a reminder of that in Brazil on Thursday, speaking to media including The Race. Perez pointed to GM as "one of the biggest manufacturers", before considering whether the TWG investors wanted to "get some of their investment back". "But I don't think it will change any structure at all," he said. Having just signed a [new long-term contract](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/cadillac-gives-perez-new-f1-deal-through-2029/), Perez would have had every reason to ask what a sale might mean for the team before committing. He sounds unsure about why the investors would sell, but rather more certain about what happens afterwards. He may know more than most in Brazil. And that last line may have just let it show. Naturally, there are plenty of other people being linked to said new structure. An apprentice mechanic's job could become available in F1 and somebody would mention Christian Horner. His name appearing in this conversation is therefore hardly a revelation. More interestingly I have also heard considerably wilder suggestions involving prominent paddock figures. As far as I can establish, those have not developed into firm outcomes. Yet. Of the names reported, Fenway Sports Group, I've been assured, looks the most likely to progress. ## Why Fenway's interest deserves attention The very American nature of Fenway is of particular interest. Informally, GM and senior management have been very pleased with the particularly strong response when Cadillac leans into its American identity. That has strengthened the appetite for an American driver, with [Colton Herta increasingly central to that ambition](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/colton-herta-mexican-gp-fp1-cadillac-f1-audition/), and for an American investment partner. The Race's audience data backs up this assertion. Our US audience figures spike on Cadillac and Herta stories. Obvious but important. The process of getting Herta into F1 has, in my view, exposed the inexperience around the decision-making at a sporting level within the team. That deserves a piece of its own, which I will return to if, as seems increasingly likely, he is confirmed around the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Cadillac's second driver for 2027\. For now, the decision remains publicly unresolved and [Valtteri Bottas](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/valtteri-bottas-crash-diagnosis-and-bold-stance-on-cadillac-f1-future/) has been told there is still a route to him staying. The commercial logic is easy enough to see. An American manufacturer, an American driver, and an investor experienced in American sport make a coherent proposition to sponsors and supporters. Herta would still have to deliver behind the wheel. But the appeal of that combination helps explain why the driver discussion and the ownership discussion belong in the same article. For Walter, the task is now to realise as much value while preserving as much influence as possible. For GM, it is to ensure the funding and stability is in place to support its long-term ambitions. The negotiations that settle those questions will tell us more about Cadillac's future than anything said outside its garage this weekend.