Cadillac wants to make a name for itself in F1, but runs into obstacles
Interview
- Ludo van Denderen
Cadillac is busy developing its first Formula 1 car. Whether it will be an instant success? The US team hopes so, but is currently facing constraints, so they can't be absolutely sure.
In the search for new staff, Cadillac's team was at a slight disadvantage for months. Since the entry, up in the air and not final, potential recruits for the company could only be told that they would work at a "motorsport team at the highest level". It was simply not allowed to mention that it was an F1 team- although of course that was obvious to everyone.
With Formula 1's confirmation that Cadillac will actually be allowed to run in Grands Prix in 2026, of course, everything has changed. In the coming months, the workforce will continue to expand, the state-of-the-art facilities in Indianapolis will be completed and, of course, the first Cadillac F1 car will see the light of day.
In 12 months, the team will be on the grid, hoping for good results. Any right-thinking person realises that this will be very difficult, for a team that's starting from scratch. "It is incredibly difficult to set expectations for a new team for a whole bunch of reasons," said Cadillac F1's team boss Graeme Lowdon, to, among others, GPblog.
Cadillac is working hard, but cannot test an F1 car
For instance, the Briton cites that the situation is completely different from the most recent past with Haas F1, since they could test at its leisure before the first race. "We're very active in the wind tunnel at the moment, but we can't correlate what the wind tunnel does with the track because we're not racing."
"You can't just go and race a Formula One car on your own, it's just not allowed under the rules. So it's very, very difficult to set expectations. [But] we set very high expectations upon ourselves in terms of what we are in control of," says Lowdon.
But there is a difference between reality and what Cadillac ultimately strives for, the team boss says. "The answer before, which is pointing a bit more towards the ambition, and that side is limitless, so just being part of Formula One is not the objective. We do want to be a meaningful part of the competition, but we recognize that that can take time."
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels too!