凯迪拉克F1收购谈判的真相
凯迪拉克F1团队的收购谈判情况复杂，涉及多方利益。
从前，如果你想了解谁在收购一支F1车队，你可以在维修区里喝咖啡时问问车队的主人。
但尝试与马克·沃尔特这么做。
现在F1的所有权和管理工作是这样的，可能只有维修区里一个刚刚签了合同的人真正了解销售情况，这个人似乎在周四不小心泄露了一些信息。
当我最近深入调查每个F1车队真正拥有者时，我们与车队所有者时代的距离变得非常明显。管理团队的人、名字在车库上方公司的，以及最终控制资金的人可以是三个非常不同的事物。
考虑到凯迪拉克一级方程式车队的股份潜在出售，这一点很重要。
在奥斯汀和墨西哥的赛道围栏区有很多讨论。但是推动故事进展的报道来自美国体育和金融界，由Sportico领导，随后是华尔街日报等媒体的跟进。《赛车》的记者们在巴西寻求确认。这并不意味着答案就在巴西。
我被告知，这些谈判是由沃尔特和他的一个非常小的圈子亲自处理的。在银石赛道工作的人、在美国设施工作的人或在英特拉戈斯维修区工作的人，完全有可能对此知之甚少。
凯迪拉克拥有一支表现不佳的赛车队，在赛道上面临着紧迫的挑战需要解决。它的所有者管理着一组企业和自己的挑战，包括涉及他保险业务的联邦调查。
这就是为什么凯迪拉克的立场是‘没有变化’并不意味着什么都没有发生。
我的消息来源已经表明，几个月来一直在进行销售流程。获得正式确认或有人愿意公开谈论此事相当困难，这种情况通常就是这样。剩下的疑问是这个过程的结果会是什么。这正是人们感兴趣的地方。
最不令人惊讶的部分是有人想要购买。
正如我之前所写的，有大量的资金正在寻找进入F1的方式，而可供购买的资金却很少。一个感兴趣的投资者不能简单地从货架上订购另一支车队。
沃尔特同时一直在出售体育资产，包括他对湖人队和切尔西队的兴趣，这发生在据报道的财务压力和涉及他保险业务的联邦调查的背景下。TWG否认有任何不当行为。这个更广泛的情况对这个交易的影响远大于凯迪拉克最新的排位位置。
这并不意味着沃尔特需要首先挂出‘出售’的招牌。潜在的投资者一直在敲他的门。在他的情况下，这些对话很难忽视。
《卫报》报道了关于费尼克斯体育集团的大多数收购谈判，该集团拥有利物浦足球俱乐部和波士顿红袜队等。沃尔特方面的偏好似乎是一个少数股权出售，这样他可以保留控制权。
偏好并不意味着交易已经完成。但这种区别很重要。
劳伦斯·斯特罗尔提供了一个有用的例子。正如我们在所有权文章中探讨的那样，他在保留控制投票和治理权的同时，将连续的投资者引入了阿斯顿·马丁。经济所有权和控制是两回事。
车主可以从桌面上拿走钱，引入另一位投资者，并仍然决定谁坐在他的第二个F1座位上。
所以，出售的百分比只能告诉我们凯迪拉克故事的一部分。那些股份所附带的权利可能会告诉我们更多。
普遍认为沃尔特持有67%，丹·托里斯3%，通用汽车持有30%。这些数字尚未得到公开确认，它们并没有告诉我们通用汽车有什么批准或保护。
这是一个重大的未知数。
当我采访弗拉维奥·布里atore关于Otro Capital拟出售其24%的阿尔派恩股份时，他提出了关于雷诺地位的一个实际观点。其正式否决期一直持续到九月。但谁会在没有与控股股东建立可行关系的情况下，承诺数亿美元投资少数股权？
合同到期并不意味着不需要相处融洽。
通用汽车在凯迪拉克的地位不同，我们不应假设有相同权利。但任何买家都需要了解其与制造商的关系，制造商的名字、投资和长期承诺是这一提议的核心。
似乎在这些事情上消息很灵通，佩雷斯在周四巴西的一次采访中提醒了这一点，他接受了包括《The Race》在内的媒体的采访。
佩雷斯指出通用汽车是“最大的制造商之一”，然后考虑TWG投资者是否想要“收回一些投资”。
“但我认为这不会改变任何结构，”他说。
刚刚签下一份新的长期合同，佩雷斯在承诺之前有充分的理由询问这笔交易对车队可能意味着什么。他听起来对投资者为什么要出售感到不确定，但对他之后会发生什么则更为确定。他可能比巴西的任何人知道的都多。最后一句话可能刚好让他露出了马脚。
自然，还有很多人被联系到这个新的结构中。
一个学徒机械师的工作可能会在F1中出现，有人会提到克里斯蒂安·霍纳。因此，他的名字出现在这次对话中几乎不是什么新闻。
更有趣的是，我还听到了一些关于显赫车场人物的更离谱的建议。据我所知，这些并没有发展成为确定的结果。然而。
在报道的名字中，我被告知，芬威体育集团看起来最有可能取得进展。
为什么费尼克斯的兴趣值得注意
费尼克斯非常美国化的本质特别引人关注。
非正式地，通用汽车和高级管理层对凯迪拉克深入其美国身份时的特别强烈反应感到非常满意。这增强了寻找美国车手的胃口，科尔顿·赫塔越来越成为这一雄心的核心，以及寻找美国投资伙伴的愿望。比赛的观众数据支持这一说法。我们的美国观众人数在凯迪拉克和赫塔的故事中激增。显而易见但很重要。
在我看来，赫塔进入一级方程式的过程暴露了团队在体育层面决策上的缺乏经验。这值得一篇单独的文章来探讨，如果，正如越来越有可能的那样，他在拉斯维加斯大奖赛上被确认为凯迪拉克2027年的第二位车手，我会回到这个话题。目前，这一决定仍然是公开未解决的，瓦尔特里·博塔斯被告知他仍然有机会留下来。
商业逻辑很容易看出。一家美国制造商、一位美国车手以及一位对美国体育有经验的投资者，为赞助商和支持者提供了一个连贯的提议。
赫塔仍然需要在驾驶座上证明自己。但这一组合的吸引力有助于解释为什么车手讨论和所有权讨论属于同一篇文章。
对于沃尔特来说，现在的任务是尽可能实现价值，同时尽可能保留影响力。对于通用汽车来说，则是确保有足够的资金和稳定性来支持其长期目标。
解决这些问题的谈判将比这个周末在凯迪拉克车库外说的话更能告诉我们关于凯迪拉克未来的信息。
英文原文
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.
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, 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.
As I have written before, there is a substantial amount of money looking for a way into 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, 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 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, 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, 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 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.
The Race ·
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