TOP 5: Car brands we want to see in F1

Formula 1 is on the up – and represents an attractive place to be if you're a car manufacturer. New engine regulations from 2026 also mean a golden opportunity to be competitive from the get-go is also approaching.

But while brands such as Ford, Honda and Audi are signing up off the back of the new regs, others have been rebuffed or are conspicuously quiet altogether.
In this article, we reveal the five brands we'd like to see in Formula One – at the very least as an engine supplier, but ideally as a full-fledged factory team – and why they need to be there. Not just for them, but for F1.

Hyundai

South Korea is now an automotive powerhouse, producing not only the best quality affordable cars in the world, but some of the most advanced. The N brand from Hyundai is also releasing arguably the most forward-thinking new performance models in the entire market, in cars like the game-changing Ioniq 5 N.

Hyundai would cement itself as one of the highest-tech car companies in the world by competing against Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren in light-blue, N-branded F1 machines. Hyundai Motorsport's president is Cyril Abiteboul, former managing director of the Renault F1 team – so with the F1 know-how already at the top of its racing ranks, an F1 entry is surely only a matter of budget and will.

Cadillac

Thanks to Netflix's Drive To Survive, Formula One has finally cracked the US market – after decades of trying. Ford has come onboard as an official partner for Red Bull Racing. We reckon it's time for its Detroit cross-town rival – and one of the world's biggest and most storied car-makers – to join the F1 grid as well.

Of course, General Motors and Cadillac did try to enter F1, with Andretti Global, for as early as next year, and while Andretti's bid was rebuked by F1's overlords (despite being approved by the FIA), GM has registered to become an engine supplier from 2028. Watch this space.

Porsche

Of all the world's car companies, Porsche is the most conspicuous in its F1 absence. The world's premier sports car manufacturer has a long and successful history in motorsport, the jewel of which is of course its numerous chapters in sports car racing, but Porsche also has its own F1 history. The brand raced a factory outfit in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but more famously helped McLaren to dominance in the 1980s, the German brand supplying the TAG-branded engines.

Porsche wants to join F1 but its efforts to join the grid in a full, factory capacity have stalled – and gone cold for now. We think F1 and Porsche should get to the table and figure something out, as seeing Stuttgart's finest battle with Maranello at the pinnacle of world motorsport is something that'd make the midnight race starts more than a little easier.

MG

Whatever your political views, there's no denying the Chinese automotive market is both enormous and emerging – and deserves to compete in what is essentially the World Cup of car racing.

MG has extensive motorsport history dating back to the early 1930s. Since then it's dabbled in touring car racing, the Le Mans 24 Hour and even the World Rally Championship but it's not until approximately now that MG has had the resources to make a full Formula One bid, which would not only raise its international profile and credibility, but help drive sales of new road-going performance models such as the MG4 X-Power electric hot hatch, and the upcoming Cyberster electric sports car.

Lotus

This iconic Formula One brand deserves to be back on the grid, not least because it's now also representing the Chinese automotive market in much the same way as MG. Owned and backed by Geely, a Chinese car manufacturing giant, Lotus could assert its status as a new leader in performance cars with a spot on the F1 grid. Colin Chapman would surely and dearly approve.

Lotus has hinted it would like to return to F1, but the scale of such an effort is beyond it for now. In the meantime, Lotus is focused on GT racing with its new Emira GT4. We're just happy to see a factory Lotus presence in motorsport again – and will continue praying to the F1 gods for a new chapter in Lotus grand prix racing history.