GM unveiled a version of the livery at its new global headquarters in Detroit last month at the sold-out Detroit Free Press Breakfast Club event.
The livery reveal was the second ad that GM ran on Super Bowl Sunday.
General Motors unveiled the livery of the first Cadillac Formula 1 Team car in a TV commercial airing during one of the most expensive time slots possible ― the Super Bowl. But before it even aired, the team was slapped with a lawsuit.
Cadillac has gone to considerable expense leading up to its long-awaited F1 debut this year as an 11th expansion team at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The minute-long spot revealed the vehicle during the 60-minute broadcast from LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8. Cadillac Formula One CEO Dan Towriss said in an interview that the brand spent up to $20 million for that slot.
Meanwhile, the ad could cost the company even more. Within 24 hours of the commercial’s airing, it attracted legal action by Hollywood director Michael Bay. As The Athletic and Rolling Stone first reported, the “Transformers” and “Armageddon” director filed a $1.5 million breach of contract and fraud lawsuit in Los Angeles on Feb. 6 over allegations the advertisement used his ideas without payment.
The commercial appears to compare the completion of the Formula 1 vehicle to the space race by underscoring images of the vehicle with snippets of a 1961 speech delivered by president John F, Kennedy discussing plans to place an American on the moon before the end of the decade.
Watch the commercial here:
According to a statement emailed to the Detroit Free Press and attributed to a Cadillac F1 Team spokesperson, the team behind the ad was actually in talks with Bay to direct.
“But after two meetings, it became clear he couldn’t meet our timeline, and there ultimately wasn’t a path forward. It’s unclear why he’s bringing this claim, since the concept and creative were already developed and we were only exploring him as a director,” the statement said.
At the time of the suit, the ad had not yet been released ― which the Cadillac F1 team noted was “unusual.”
“We’re confident this will be resolved appropriately. Even so, we still admire Michael Bay’s creative brilliance and would welcome the opportunity to work together in the future,” the statement concluded. The ad was instead directed by Sam Piling, according to the company.
This year’s Super Bowl had an expected audience of over 130 million viewers, according to GM. Once the black and white livery debuted on television, a replica of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team car was revealed in Times Square on Sunday night.
The team sent an updated statement attributed to Towriss that the team has a lot of respect for Bay and that he was disappointed about the lawsuit.
“Certainly, all of the creative was done well in advance of us ever speaking with him. We wanted to talk with him about a role as director, not taking creative ideas from him. The group that we worked with did an excellent job developing all that, and so we’re confident that it will all be resolved amicably,” he said. “But, from our standpoint, last night was a huge success and we’re very proud of the work that was done. That’s all I can say on it.”
The Detroit automaker stoked excitement for its first ever F1 car through a fog-drenched reveal of a version of the livery at its new global headquarters in Detroit last month at the sold-out Detroit Free Press Breakfast Club event.
That vehicle, which GM’s F1 team referred to as “shakedown livery” on X, was a preliminary rendering of the brand’s real F1 car.
This was the second ad that GM ran on Super Bowl Sunday. During pregame coverage, Chevrolet aired a new commercial that was a “modern interpretation” of the brand’s ad “See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet,” sung by the late legendary entertainer and television host Dinah Shore.
The updated commercial features the same song but sung by up-and-coming country singer Brooke Lee, known for the songs “Dandelion” (featuring Lukas Nelson) and “So Beautiful.”
Airing during the pregame show is less expensive than during the show proper. A 30-second commercial during Super Bowl 60 costs about $8 million on average, according to Mike Marshall, head of global advertising for NBCUniversal, who quoted that figure on a podcast last month.
Staff writer Liam Rappleye contributed to this report. Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@freepress.com.