Cadillac’s first F1 livery won’t roll out under stage lights at a factory launch. It’ll drop in the middle of America’s biggest TV show.
The new American outfit confirmed its debut Formula 1 colours will be revealed via a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, 8 February 2026 — a very on-brand entrance for a team backed by General Motors and run in partnership with TWG Global. No curtain, no countdown stream. Just prime time.
It’s a punchy play, and an expensive one. Last year’s Super Bowl drew an estimated 127.7 million viewers, and a 30-second slot is expected to cost around $8 million. TWG Global CEO Dan Towriss told Bloomberg the team has budgeted a “typical Super Bowl spend,” a line that says plenty about the intent: go big at home before a wheel turns in anger.
“There’s this underdog status as an American brand that is just joining Formula 1 but doing it from a standing start, going up against European rivals that have been honing their craft for decades,” Towriss added. That’s the pitch — Detroit’s luxury badge taking on F1’s establishment, introduced during the most American of spectacles. In marketing terms, the fit is almost too neat.
Cadillac becomes the latest outfit to pin down its 2026 launch plans, joining Aston Martin, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Alpine in the queue to reveal liveries for the first season of F1’s next-era regulations. Those 2026 cars will be built to an all-new rulebook, and teams are keeping their designs tight — which is why you shouldn’t expect this ad to give away aero secrets. Think brand, colours, attitude. The technical stuff can wait for the first proper shakedowns.
On the driver side, Cadillac’s debut line-up brings star power and a mountain of mileage: Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have both inked deals to lead the programme. Perez has already slipped back behind the wheel in a Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) outing with Ferrari at Imola, circulating in a blacked-out SF-23 to stay sharp. Bottas, meanwhile, logged laps in Mexico City on 2026 tyre development as part of his reserve duties with Mercedes, a handy preview of the rubber everyone will be juggling next year.
It’s an intriguing blend. Two proven race winners, two big personalities, and both with enough technical feedback to help a new operation find its feet. That matters when you’re building a team from a “standing start,” even one with GM’s engineering might behind it.
As a piece of strategy, the Super Bowl reveal makes sense. F1’s footprint in the United States has ballooned in recent seasons; Cadillac wants to turn that ambient interest into loyalty. Why fight for eyeballs in a crowded February launch window when you can step into a commercial break seen by a third of the country? And if you’re Cadillac, you don’t just want F1 fans — you want the millions who’ve never stayed up for a European qualifying session to recognise your badge on a grid shot in March.
The timing is smart, too. By dropping the livery on Super Bowl Sunday, Cadillac can own the Monday conversation without competing with a dozen streamable car launches. It also plants a flag for what this project is going to be: unapologetically American in style, outward-looking in ambition.
Of course, the ad won’t make the car fast. That bit starts at the factory and ends in the wind tunnel, simulator, and garage. But for a newcomer trying to elbow into a sport packed with heritage brands and title-winning marketing machines, day one is about being seen. And Cadillac’s chosen to be seen by pretty much everyone.
Circle the date: Sunday, 8 February 2026. Somewhere between touchdowns and halftime theatrics, Formula 1’s newest team will show us its face. Then, a few weeks later, we’ll find out what that face looks like at 200 mph.
