'WE KNOW IT'S A HUGE CHALLENGE' - CADILLAC BOSS LOWDON ON THE TEAM'S PREPARATION AND THEIR 'FIRST TARGET'
Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon tells Lawrence Barretto about how the squad's preparations are ramping up ahead of their F1 debut in 2026
Six months after getting the green light to enter Formula 1 and six months before their entry into the sport as the 11th team, things are starting to ramp up in a big way for the General Motors-backed Cadillac F1 Team.
Starting a Formula 1 squad from scratch is no mean feat – but one of the very few people in the world who has experience in such a task happens to be the one charged with leading the new American project onto the grid next season.
Graeme Lowdon has immense experience in Formula 1, first with Marussia/Manor as Sporting Director, then as part of the management team of Zhou Guanyu, China's first F1 race driver. During that time, he was also an adviser to the project that has become the Cadillac F1 entry and thus is already well embedded.
"It's kind of a rare skill set, bringing new Formula 1 teams in, but it's an important one," he says with a smile, as we chat in the Italian sunshine in the Monza paddock, where he was making a two-day visit with CEO Dan Towriss.
Cadillac made a significant step towards their F1 debut late last month when they announced one of the most experienced driver line-ups in Formula 1 history – and the most experienced on the grid next year, in the shape of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, who have amassed 527 Grands Prix between them.
"It was great to see the reaction of the drivers as well," says Lowdon of when he told them they had got a seat. "Obviously, it's clear for everyone we've gone for experience with Valtteri and Checo. But when we told each driver, there was that spark of excitement as well and, for me, that's what I look for.
"Then we look for their enthusiasm because if you have an enthusiastic driver line-up, that helps gel everything together. And that's what we're building now, it's a team and teams are all about people and it's bringing all those people together."
While both drivers have enjoyed success in F1 – they have 16 wins and 106 podiums between them – both have spent this year on the sidelines, albeit they've taken different approaches.
Perez has had a full reset and recharge, after spending sustained time away from racing and travelling the world, with his family for the first time in two decades. In contrast, Bottas has been in the paddock every weekend, embedding himself in Mercedes as part of his reserve role, with his hunger for a return overflowing.
Lowdon is convinced neither will need much time to get back up to speed.
"It's very difficult to quantify what success can look like other than we just have to execute as well as we possibly can and gain respect from the other competitors."
GRAEME LOWDON
"I don't think he will have forgotten how to drive, that's for sure," says Lowdon of Perez. "He's doing a bit of karting and we'll have him on the simulator quite soon. We're going to do some testing in real world cars as well. So I've got no doubts that he'll be back up to speed in time.
"Obviously one of the advantages that we have in 2026 is unlike a normal championship year, where there's only three days of testing, for 2026 there's going to be an initial test in Barcelona and then two additional tests in Bahrain. We'll have three times the amount of testing so that will help get them up to speed as well.
"With Valtteri, it'll help a lot [that he's been with Mercedes] because there's a lot that is new in 2026 in terms of tyres and power units in particular. So having an experienced driver like Valtteri, who's up to speed on that kind of thing is, is valuable.
"The drivers don't get to see the in-depth design secrets and all the rest of it but I think it's quite valuable to have a driver who hasn't left the paddock, so each weekend he'll be in all the engineering meetings, his mind staying sharp."
HERTA IS 'A PROPER RACER'
While Cadillac didn't put an American in a race seat for year one, they stayed true to their word of wanting to do so in the future by bringing Indycar race winner Colton Herta onboard as their test driver.
The 25-year-old is bravely leaving behind a race seat in the American single-seater series, where he has accumulated 116 starts and became the youngest race winner, for a test role in the hope he can make it on the F1 grid.
As part of his preparations for a race seat in the future, the team will ensure he spends plenty of time in the simulator as well as taking part in FP1 sessions and dovetailing a campaign in feeder series F2 to help him secure the required points needed to get a Super Licence to race in Formula 1.
"The first thing I'd say about Colton is I really like the guy," says Lowdon. "I've got to know him quite a bit over the last couple of years. I love his approach – he's a proper racer.
""The good news is it [the new car, which will be built to sweeping new chassis and power unit regulations] is coming along. It's on schedule."
GRAEME LOWDON
"Some people would say that going from a race winning position in one championship and then into a test role, people talk about reputation or whatever. What I love is when you have a driver who is confident in his ability and speed to make that change.
"It's exactly what we want to see. You don't want to see people who shy away from a challenge or anything else. It is the pure essence of racing. He is American, but we've always said everyone in our programme is chosen on merit. If they happen to be American because we're an American team, it's a plus point.
"It's great for the fans and we're seeing that already, the positive reaction to that announcement was huge. He's bringing an established fan base to the sport as well.
"It's a really good move for him in my view and for the team, and we'll dovetail that with racing as well in F2 so he'll still be keeping himself sharp from that perspective. We're looking at a few different options for him for 2026 and Formula 2 is obviously one of them. There's a lot of plus points in doing that."
Cadillac's next job is to sign a reserve driver, with Herta unavailable to step in if required as he doesn't yet have his Super Licence.
"We haven't started looking, we've made no offers to anybody, for any reserve position with the team," adds Lowdon. "But that is now the position that we'll turn our attention to and it helps complete the line-up."
CADILLAC'S CAR 'ON SCHEDULE'
While the driver search has taken place, work has continued at a pace to get Cadillac's two debut Formula 1 cars ready.
Technical Director Nick Chester, who has extensive F1 experience in F1 through a long stint with Renault, has been in place for months. His team features chief designer John McQuilliam – who has previously worked for seven F1 teams, and is supported by executive engineering consultant Pat Symonds.
Lowdon did a fun rough calculation that suggested they have around 2,500 years of Formula 1 experience within the team – and that has helped them knuckle down and use the time to get ready as effectively and efficiently as possible.
"The good news is it [the new car, which will be built to sweeping new chassis and power unit regulations] is coming along," says Lowdon. "It's on schedule. We are currently laying up the first two race chassis.
"We built a prototype chassis some time ago and we use that chassis to do all of the equivalent FIA homologation tests. So, there's some very onerous squeeze tests and also the rather dramatic impact tests, which is quite a significant test.
"We've already built the prototype, went through all those tests. We are probably the first team that has done as well, because obviously the other teams have got learnings from their '25 cars and '24 cars and everything.
"The [2026] regulations are super tight and so the competition is absolutely insane and intense and we have to recognise that."
GRAEME LOWDON
"We wanted to do that to give ourselves confidence that when we're building the race chassis, we've got a high degree of confidence that we should pass the homologation tests. But now we're actually laying up the actual race chassis and it's on schedule and it's really cool to see."
CADILLAC'S CAR 'ON SCHEDULE'
Cadillac has ambitions of creating an American built car and in time, the squad's manufacturing facility will be in Fishers, Indiana, but that structure is still under construction and set to be ready at some point next year.
In the interim, the team will utilise manufacturing partners around the world while making the most of their UK base, which is just outside the gates of Silverstone.
They will be powered by a Ferrari power unit next season – with their own power unit, built in North Carolina, set to be ready for 2029. They'll take the Ferrari gearbox, too, but will do the casing themselves. They will look after everything else, including components like the suspension, with partners used to manufacturer Cadillac designs.
The car will break cover early in January at Silverstone, when the team will complete a shakedown as part of a filming day. Later that month, they will join up with the rest of the grid for the first time for the closed test in Barcelona. They will then take part in two three-day tests in Bahrain to finetune the machine before heading to Australia for race one.
Naturally, General Motors have entered F1 with the ambition to win – but they are also pragmatic about the challenge ahead. They understand that, given the high level of competitiveness in the sport, success will take time. So what are the team's ambitions for year one?
"The first thing to recognise is this game is unbelievably competitive," says Lowdon. "I've often said Formula 1 is actually a very simple business model and a very simple technical model actually because you download it.
"Anyone watching at home can download all of the regulations off the internet. But there lies the problem. You have 11 teams, previously 10 teams, competing on exactly the same set of regulations.
"They can't invent a different kind of car or anything else. The regulations are super tight and so the competition is absolutely insane and intense and we have to recognise that.
"I guess the way I try and communicate to other people is, imagine if you're one of these existing teams, all of them have been doing this for at least 10 years, if not significantly longer.
"If a new team were to come in and immediately be competitive against them, then you'd be pretty upset and pretty angry. And so, we know it's a huge challenge. It's very difficult to quantify what success can look like other than we just have to execute as well as we possibly can and gain respect from the other competitors.
"I think that's always the first target because, if we do that, then we know that we will be doing a good job."
