Not even a day has passed since Cadillac aired its headline-grabbing Super Bowl half-time ad showing its first-ever Formula 1 car with its distinctive split black-and-white livery, but it’s already the subject of a lawsuit from a rather unexpected source – director Michael Bay.
The Athletic, the sports department of the New York Times, has acquired a copy of a breach-of-contract and fraud lawsuit filed by Bay, best known for explosion-heavy projects like the Bad Boys and Transformers film franchises. The director had been in talks with the F1 team to direct the ad, with Cadillac ultimately deciding to go in a different direction – but now Bay is alleging that CEO Dan Towriss and the team used his ideas without permission.
Bay Says He Was Hired Then Dropped
The complaint claims that initial discussions between Cadillac and Bay took place in November 2025, with Towriss discussing ideas with Bay that ultimately made it into the final ad, including the use of excerpts from a John F. Kennedy speech and an otherworldly desert backdrop.
Bay goes on to claim that, after sharing examples of his previous work that featured similar themes and presenting a sales pitch, he was hired by the team to direct the ad and began working with Cadillac to create it.
However, Bay’s representatives say that on December 6, they were told that Cadillac would be going “in a different direction,” and it seemed that was that. However, the lawsuit – filed before the ad actually aired – claims that Bay’s concepts and ideas were still present without the director’s permission, and he’s now suing the team for “general and compensatory damages” in excess of $1.5 million.
Cadillac ‘Confident This Will Be Resolved’
Cadillac has already responded to the suit, with a spokesperson confirming to The Athletic that discussions with Bay were held, and that the F1 team is “confident this will be resolved appropriately.”
“It’s unclear why [Bay is] bringing this claim,” says the spokesperson, “since the concept and creative were already developed and we were only exploring him as a director. It’s also unusual to raise this now, given the ad hasn’t even been released.”
American Director for an American Team
Cadillac pulled out all the stops to debut its F1 livery, with an ad during one of the biggest sports events in the US calendar plus a glitzy in-person event in Times Square, all with a view to introducing the team in an ‘American’ way. The discussions with Bay, says the lawsuit, were part of this, as the team wanted to use a US director for its big all-American debut.
The team’s arrival on the grid will mark the first time a major American OEM will field a fully-fledged factory-branded outfit in motorsport’s top level, although the team is using power units sourced from Ferrari for its first few seasons, and in addition to its Indianapolis, IN and Concord, NC bases, has a location in Silverstone, UK to handle operations throughout the European part of the season.
The car, set to be driven by proven race-winners Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, has already taken to the track for the first round of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, and will do so again in Bahrain from February 11-13. Its first competitive outing will come at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8 – hopefully, by then, the issues with Bay will have been fully resolved.
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