On paper, a new team like Cadillac has the odds stacked against them when preparing for their debut F1 season. However, team principal Graeme Lowdon – who went through a similar process at the helm of Virgin Racing/Manor Marussia – makes clear that Cadillac aren’t on the grid to make up the numbers.
Cadillac aim to be competitive from round one in 2026
Cadillac’s journey to Formula 1 has been well-documented by LWOS, with their extensive negotiations with FOM taking headlines for several years.
There were always lingering doubts about whether the American project would get the green light to join F1.
In fact, Liberty Media’s U-turn on Cadillac was relatively unexpected – requiring a series of important changes behind the scenes.
Regardless, Cadillac could not wait for official approval to begin working on their F1 aspirations.
The team have been working on the 2026 regulations for some time – both with a wind tunnel and simulator.
Unlike other teams, they did not have to balance their 2025 development with next year’s regulations.
Cadillac’s F1 entry was given the go-ahead last November, but the team already had a significant workforce of engineers pushing ahead on their 2026 challenger.
Moreover, wind tunnel and CFD restrictions only applied to the US squad starting from January 1st, 2025.
Before then, therefore, they had unlimited hours in the wind tunnel to develop their concept for next year’s regulations.
To be clear, none of this takes away from the challenges Cadillac must confront over the next twelve months.
Still, there are plenty of reasons for F1’s 11th team to be competitive – even in their rookie season.
Lowdon outlines progress ahead of next season
Cadillac’s team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has no shortage of experience in Formula 1.
Before joining Zhou Guanyu’s management, he was in charge of Virgin Racing and Manor from 2010-15, a team whose financial resources were a huge limiting factor.
Still, of the three teams who entered F1 in 2010, it was Lowdon’s that lasted longest and achieved the most success.
With significantly more resources and a more even playing field, Lowdon intends to be far more competitive with his next F1 endeavour.
The 60-year-old understands the demands of competing with far more more experienced teams.
Still, Lowdon emphasised to Sky Sports that Cadillac are a team with ambition:
“We have a countdown clock, which shows the time between now and free practice one in Melbourne, so everyone’s acutely aware of the of the timeline.
“We’re on target. We’ve been in the wind tunnel with a ’26 car for quite some time.
“It’s super difficult. It’s intensely competitive, it really, really is.
“There is a regulation change so we are yet to see how other teams will adapt to that.
“But no new team coming into Formula 1 has any right, in reality, to be anywhere other than the back of the grid.
“So obviously our challenge is to try and move forward and we’ve got all the right ingredients….
“I think it is important to have ambition and you can see from TWG and from Cadillac, this is a team that does have vision and ambition to move forward.”
Main photo: Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images (via Red Bull content pool)
