The boss of General Motors, Mark Reuss, has admitted that the American powerhouse was not actively seeking a potential Formula 1 entry before Andretti's proposed bid. It was announced earlier in January that Andretti Autosport would submit an entry bid to join Grand Prix racing as an 11th team after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem set his sights on an 'Expression of Interest' process. A couple of days later, Michael Andretti confirmed he would submit a bid under the EoI framework, with General Motors coming onboard to partner the bid via their Cadillac brand. The potential of a new OEM entering F1 - and one that has thus far never done so - was appealing, although some on the F1 side are cautious about the bid and are awaiting further information. And Reuss (pictured below between Rick Hendrick and Chip Ganassi) has admitted that F1 was not on the GM radar before Andretti approached with the plan.
Reuss on GM F1 plans
"I would assume that at some point General Motors would, in the history of my career have loved to have gotten into Formula 1," Reuss explained to media, including RacingNews365.com. "But for various reasons it was pretty tough to do that. "I don't know if it was the leadership at the time, the amount of money [it would have required], where the company or economy was or whatever the reasons were over a long period of time. "They were different, but I would say that this opportunity and Michael [Andretti] were really important to us. "I would say that we weren't searching necessarily to do it, but Michael kicked it off and I was just personally really over the moon. It was great, and just evolved." GM has a presence in motorsport already, with Cadillac a leader in the prototypes of IMSA and Chevrolet being one of two OEMs in IndyCar (with Honda) and one of three in the NASCAR Cup Series with rivals Ford and Toyota.
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