Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss has made it clear that the newcomers expect to be battling with other teams in F1 2026.<\/p>\n
Towriss admits that Cadillac anticipate being behind from an aerodynamic point of view at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but will judge success this season by how many teams it can overtake in what will likely be a relentless F1 2026 development war. Cadillac plans to start learning more about its car in Bahrain testing, and begin pushing the performance envelope.<\/p>\n
Cadillac F1 expecting to compete against other teams<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n In a year of major change for Formula 1, Cadillac arrives on the 2026 grid as the sport\u2019s new, 11th team.<\/p>\n Cadillac is the first team formed from scratch to join the sport since fellow American squad Haas arrived in 2016.<\/p>\n Cadillac will be powered by a Ferrari engine, ahead of a planned future switch to works team status, as General Motors continues development of its own power unit.<\/p>\n Having hit the track for the first time in a Silverstone shakedown, Cadillac were in action at the unofficial Barcelona test.<\/p>\n Prior to the start of official pre-season testing in Bahrain, Cadillac completed a filming day at the Bahrain International Circuit, showing off its popular black and white livery.<\/p>\n In conversation with PlanetF1.com and other media outlets, Towriss was asked what an acceptable level of performance would be for Cadillac in its first F1 season.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s still a lot of unanswered questions going into that,\u201d said Towriss.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll learn a lot more over the next two weeks of testing in Bahrain of just where the cars are.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, I think Barcelona was a lot about shakedown and just testing systems. Because everything we\u2019re building is for the first time. So it\u2019s the first steering column, the first fuel system, you know, all the pieces. And so, a real focus on reliability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll start to see where the performance shakes out.<\/p>\n \u201cI think from us, it\u2019s going to be about the rate of development. I would expect to be behind from an aero standpoint coming out of the gate in Melbourne, and so as we\u2019re getting more data, the development is going to come pretty fast on this car.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly expect to be competing against other teams, and we\u2019ll see where things shake out.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, again, we\u2019ve got a lot of changes, tyres, chassis, power unit, the drivers are going to have to drive these cars differently. So there are a lot of questions that still have to Towriss believes that \u201cjust making it to Barcelona was an accomplishment in its own right\u201d for Cadillac, having seen the \u201cscale\u201d and \u201ccomplexity\u201d of what goes into a Formula 1 car.<\/p>\n In Bahrain, Cadillac will look to explore what its first F1 challenger is truly capable of.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good shakedown week for us, and so we\u2019re excited now to really start to work on the performance of the car, start to push the limits, see what it can do,\u201d said Towriss.<\/p>\n More on Cadillac from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n Cadillac unveils its first Formula 1 livery during Super Bowl spectacle<\/a><\/p>\n The real hard work is only just beginning for Audi and Cadillac<\/a><\/p>\n Cadillac has one of the most experienced driver line-ups anywhere on the Formula 1 grid to lean on as preparations for its big debut in Melbourne continue.<\/p>\n Cadillac united Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas for its first driver pairing, that duo boasting a combined 16 grand prix wins, 10 for Bottas and six for Perez.<\/p>\n \u201cCheco has been very instrumental in providing feedback on the car. The drivers are obviously an important element, both Valtteri and Checo,\u201d said Towriss. \u201cThat\u2019s why we went with experienced drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so now we\u2019re going to continue to take their feedback and accelerate the development of this car to extract the performance that\u2019s there.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very impressed by the team and very pleased with the progress thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by PlanetF1.com to expand on Bottas\u2019 influence to this point, Towriss added: \u201cI think Checo has had a little more time in the car, just out of the gate between the shakedown at Silverstone, as well as the time in Barcelona.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll get a lot of feedback this week from both of the drivers, but the experience that they have is invaluable to the team as we start to make progress with this car.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Perez and Bottas possessing more than 500 grand prix starts combined, this is a new era for Formula 1, and so, there are learnings for this F1 veteran duo too.<\/p>\n The F1 2026 generation of Formula 1 car has less downforce than the ground effect machines, something which all drivers must adapt to.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just less load on this car than what Formula 1 cars have had in the past,\u201d Towriss noted. \u201cAnd so, our drivers are no different in that everyone will be learning to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Having touched on Cadillac\u2019s anticipation that it will take the fight to rival teams in F1 2026, Towriss was asked whether scoring points would represent success for the team.<\/p>\n He brushed that off as a target which would be too \u201cshort-term\u201d in thinking for the team\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really unknown,\u201d said Towriss.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, points would be kind of an arbitrary target. I want to look at beating teams, beating cars on track, and how many cars can we pass in year one in moving up the grid. I think that\u2019s really how we\u2019re thinking about it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then secondly, it\u2019s going to be the rate of development on this car as well.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we obviously have a long-term outlook for the team, and so that\u2019s the focus that we\u2019re going to have.<\/p>\n \u201cI think focusing on points out of the gate would be both arbitrary and represent short-term thinking. What we\u2019re looking at is being successful in the sport over the long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? 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be answered.\u201d<\/p>\n