Hollywood director Michael Bay sues F1 team over ‘rip off’ advert shown during Super Bowl
Hollywood director Michael Bay is suing Cadillac F1 for £1.1million, claiming the team used his creative ideas for their expensive Super Bowl advert without payment
View 2 Images
Hollywood director Michael Bay has filed a lawsuit against the Cadillac F1 team(Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)
The Cadillac Formula 1 team has released a statement after Hollywood director Michael Bay filed a lawsuit claiming his ideas were “ripped off”. Bay is pursuing £1.1million in damages, alleging breach of contract and fraud against TWG Motorsports boss Dan Towriss in the suit, which has been filed in Los Angeles.
Bay’s complaint centres on the team’s advert broadcast during Super Bowl LX on Sunday evening, which unveiled the livery of their debut F1 car set to race in the 2026 season. The livery showcases an asymmetrical design, predominantly white on one side and largely black on the other, revealed for the first time during the 30-second commercial aired during the NFL finale, one of the most-watched annual television events globally.
Bay, renowned for helming spectacular Hollywood blockbusters including Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and multiple films from the Transformers franchise, alleges he was contacted directly by Towriss in late November.
The turnaround given was extremely tight, as the advert needed to be completed within just two months to secure its costly Super Bowl slot, for which Cadillac likely paid millions of dollars. All proposed adverts for the Super Bowl had to be submitted to the NFL for approval by February 2.
Bay alleges he “worked nearly nonstop” for several days, including multiple all-nighters, only to be subsequently informed the team was “going in different direction”. The lawsuit alleges Cadillac “have apparently stolen Bay’s ideas and work… without paying for them”, and claims the team “planned all along to rip him off”.
Cadillac has refuted these claims, stating that the concept for the advert was already established and Michael Bay was approached only as they were “exploring” potential directors for the project. “Michael Bay is a cinematic genius and we talked with him about directing our Super Bowl ad,” read a team statement.
“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 is bringing this claim, 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. 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.”
Speaking on a media call with reporters including Mirror Sport on Monday, TWG Motorsports chief Towriss responded personally to Bay’s lawsuit. He said: “We have a lot of respect for Michael. I’m disappointed that he chose to do that. Certainly, all of the creative was done well in advance of us ever speaking with him.
View 2 Images
Cadillac launched their 2026 F1 car livery during the Super Bwol advert(Image: Cadillac F1 Team)
“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. 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.”
Cadillac’s assertion that Bay couldn’t meet their production timeline came in response to Bay’s lawsuit claim that he had postponed other projects to concentrate solely on the commercial. The director stated that he had informed Towriss of his commitments to developing films for major studios like Amazon, Apple, and Universal, to which the Cadillac chief allegedly responded: “OK, let’s get to work, I will let everyone know.”
