Cadillac’s challenge ahead as they prepare to hit the grid

Formula 1 will have a new kid on the block in 2026, with news that the Cadillac Formula 1 Team has been given the green light to join the grid and become the sport’s 11th team.

Work to build the new American team, backed by automotive giant General Motors and TWG Motorsports, has been going on for months – running in parallel with the efforts to positively complete the entry process.

They’ve got a facility just outside the gates of Silverstone, the home of British racing, and are cracking on with the build of their main headquarters in Fishers in the American motorsport hub Indianapolis.

General Motors and TWG Motorsports are also building a power unit facility, which will ultimately create the engine that will make the Cadillac team a full-works operation, near General Motors’ technical centre in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cadillac will be joining the F1 grid for 2026

In the interim, Cadillac have done a deal with Ferrari to use their power units and gearboxes from next season.

The race is now on to be ready for 2026 – and while it’s going to be a massive challenge, the American outfit is up for it.

Cadilliac want to be “as competitive” as possible on debut

“In terms of being ready to race, everything is on schedule,” Team Principal Graeme Lowdon, who knows how to get a Formula 1 team set up having brought Virgin Racing into the sport in 2010, told F1.com.

“We don’t just want to turn up and race, we want to be as competitive as we possibly can be.

“From that point of view, for sure we would have loved to have had more time and more people because the more of that you have, the more performance you can build in. But we recognised that the process itself requires a huge amount of energy and effort.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 07: Graeme Lowdon in the Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber — Graeme Lowdon will be Cadillac Team Principal when the team arrive in F1

“In terms of timeline for production, we’re happy with where that stands. We’ve been using a lot of time up to now doing a lot of testing and validation of individual components, things like testing of noses, squeeze testing of chassis elements and the like.

“There’s an awful lot of work that has gone on in the background. There’s still a lot of work to do. We’re in a significantly better position now that we’re now a fully-fledged F1 team. We will have access to all the data and information that all the other teams have.

“Now we can really push to come up with the most competitive car that we can. The team is already very sizeable, we’re very comfortable about the position we’re in, in terms of being ready to go racing in 2026.”

American team to go on recruitment drive

Cadillac are the first new squad on the grid since fellow American team Haas joined the fray in 2016 and having now received formal approval, they will ramp up their preparations – including going on a recruitment drive.

Under the leadership of TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss and Lowdon, the organisation have got more than 200 staff already, including former Renault technical specialists Nick Chester and Pat Symonds, working on the project however they will need hundreds more to get on par with their rivals, many of which boast around 1000 personnel.

Nick Chester (GBR) Renault Sport F1 Team Technical Director in the Press Conference at Formula One — Former Renault Technical Director Nick Chester is part of the Cadillac squad

“F1 is such a unique form of motorsport, so having people onboard [like Symonds and Chester] with the depth of knowledge and experience is great,” added Lowdon. “And they are also great people to go racing with. A lot of people at the team have worked with each other before at other teams.

“One thing I’m extremely proud of already is the team spirit within the team. We’ve all gone through this long process together but, during that, it’s allowed us to really build a team that is very much vision driven and value based – and it’s allowed us to build and communicate those values among everybody.

“We’re also employing some very bright young people who have never been in F1. Having experienced staff onboard is helpful in being able to bring those young people along. It’s really great to have such a breadth of experience.”

Cadillac to hire drivers “based on merit”

Two key roles to be filled are, of course, the drivers – with several having already got in touch with the outfit to express their interest in one of the seats. With the entry now secure, the team can push signing their drivers up the priority list.

“There’s some very talented drivers still out there,” said Lowdon. “We hadn’t been able to be in the driver market until the entry was confirmed. Now it has, we can move forward with that.

“In terms of timing, we’re not putting any timeline on driver announcements or anything like that but for sure, there will be in time.”

When asked if it was important for Cadillac to have at least one seat filled by an American driver, Lowdon replied: “For sure we’re going to hire drivers based on merit. But as such, we see no reason why we won’t have American drivers in time.

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“There’s nothing preventing a driver being selected on merit and being American. I think that would be something that a lot of fans would really want to see as well.

“At the end of the day, the Cadillac Formula 1 Team is based in the US. We have an operation in the UK, but it’s headquartered in the US and it is a US team as well.

“I’m fairly sure that hiring on merit and having a US driver are entirely compatible objectives for the team.”