Now, this is wild. As Speedcafe reports, citing a Sportico report, TWG Global owner and US sports mogul Mark Walter is shopping the brand-new Cadillac F1 team around to prospective buyers. That is right, a potential sale is on the table for a staggering price tag of at least $4.3 billion in Australian currency, which translates to US$3 billion. Despite that astronomical figure, there are already at least seven parties interested in acquiring the squad.
Let us look at the structure here. TWG owns a controlling share in the Cadillac squad in a percentage split with General Motors that has never even been made public. Beyond Formula 1, the TWG Motorsports portfolio carries heavy weight across the motorsport landscape, including Andretti Global in IndyCar, Spire Motorsports in NASCAR, Wayne Taylor Racing in sportscars, and Walkinshaw TWG Racing in Supercars.
Here is the thing, though. Should this report prove correct, it completely contradicts a firm statement issued by TWG in August. At that time, they explicitly stated that TWG was not considering a sale of the Cadillac team or any other part of TWG Motorsport. That previous declaration came off the back of Walter offloading some other key sporting assets amid a US federal investigation into intermediary companies within his broader business empire.
Indeed, Walter recently sold the famous NBA franchise the Los Angeles Lakers to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger for a reported $12.5 billion, while also dropping a 13 percent stake in English Premier League club Chelsea FC to Clearlake Capital. Sportico notes that WNBA squad the Los Angeles Sparks is another of Walter's sporting interests currently put on the market.
On the track, the debut season for Cadillac has been brutal. The team is yet to score a single world championship point, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez sitting 23rd and 24th in the standings. Naturally, that performance brings immediate uncertainty over the driver line-up for next year.
Sergio Perez is the only one considered a lock after signing a new multi-year deal on the eve of the Mexico City Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas claims he has a contract for next year, but he appears to be at risk with Colton Herta waiting in the wings. Despite a shocker of a debut season in FIA F2, the US driver is a single Free Practice 1 outing away from obtaining an F1 Superlicence and is considered a genuine option for a Cadillac race seat next season.
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