The only chance Cadillac had of beating anybody this season was if it could be at the very top end of its own potential and if others badly underachieved. What is so encouraging for Cadillac is that, at the very start of the season at least, there is a chance of exactly that being the case.<\/p>\n
Upset on the cards?<\/p>\n
Testing\u2019s just testing and the picture can change quickly but if the season opener took place immediately after pre-season testing ended in Bahrain, Cadillac would have a great chance of beating Aston Martin. <\/p>\n
Adrian Newey\u2019s Honda-powered superteam has had an awful start to 2026 with an engine that\u2019s too unreliable, lacking performance, and limiting what can be understood about the car itself. The Aston Martin-Honda package was about as far off the pace as Cadillac in Bahrain over a single lap and couldn\u2019t run for long enough to provide a real reference for its race stint prospects. <\/p>\n
Aston Martin should have greater immediate performance potential \u2013 this is certainly what Lowdon expects \u2013 but needs a significant improvement in reliability to realistically make the finish with both cars in Australia. And even if it can make it to the end, what kind of form will that be in? Could its performance just be the same as Bahrain testing, or even worse, if the engine\u2019s having to run conservatively to complete a race distance? <\/p>\n
Cadillac won\u2019t be drawn into public declarations about beating Aston Martin, but whether by retirement or on actual pace, it is a genuine target. That prospect might be blown out of the water by Friday in Melbourne but it\u2019s a great source of motivation for that team to have someone to aim for.<\/p>\n
Lowdon says it would change \u201ceverything\u201d to have a competitor on-track \u2013 especially if it ends up in a direct development race against someone and can benchmark itself properly. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s huge,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don’t know where we’re going to be just yet. But if we can be racing [others], then it’s game on. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we know we have to develop and Formula 1 is such a development race. In that respect, we don’t have any real excuses. Once you’re developing, you’re in the same boat as everybody else. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve got much more immature tool sets to do that. But there’s a big, big difference between developing against the stopwatch and developing if you’re racing people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just changes everything. It changes the motivation and the expectation. It just changes everything. If we can be racing people, then it’s what we want and what we’re here for.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Cadillac](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/XPB_1397264_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s happening elsewhere also shows just how easy it is to get a brand new set of rules badly wrong, which is critical context for understanding what could have tripped Cadillac up, and how well it has done to avoid any major red flags heading to Melbourne. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt does contextualise it – and it just shows how difficult it is,\u201d says Lowdon. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat team [Aston Martin] has unbelievably clever and experienced people at it and a huge amount of resource. We have a huge respect for that team and everybody in it. I’m absolutely convinced that they’ll move forward on the grid very, very rapidly. There’s no doubt in my mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reminds us of just how bloody difficult this game is. It’s so hard. It’s so difficult. Because when you see it on the TV, you just see some shiny cars on the grid. There’s lots of series that have that around the world. There’s lots of formula around the world that have that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you then lift the lid on just what it takes to produce that, it’s just so difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Ferrari customer Cadillac hasn\u2019t got its own engine to design yet, so hasn\u2019t had to worry about that side of things. But you can also look at Mercedes customer Williams, which botched its car build, for a clear example of what a team can misjudge and the problems it can cause itself even when the engine\u2019s being taken care of. <\/p>\n
And actually Williams was so underwhelming in Bahrain testing that it didn\u2019t look like Cadillac was miles adrift of that team at the very back of the midfield group.<\/p>\n
Impressing rivals already<\/p>\n
Imagine if Cadillac was the team that missed the first Barcelona test, or got to Bahrain and was struggling to do multi-lap runs. Imagine if Cadillac got itself into such a problematic situation that it only did six untimed laps on the final day of testing.<\/p>\n
It would be lambasted as unfit for purpose, told that it underestimated the challenge of F1, and serve as proof that those who didn\u2019t want to let it onto the grid were right all along. <\/p>\n
There were testing niggles for Cadillac but nothing that leaves the team scrambling for fixes – quite the opposite, actually. Lowdon says he goes to Australia \u201cas assured as we can be\u201d that both cars are capable of making it to the finish there. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don’t underestimate the challenge of reliability,\u201d he says. \u201cThese machines are unbelievably complex now. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe issues that we’ve encountered and fixed have been largely configurations and telemetry type stuff. All those kinds of things that are invisible to the eye, which can make them a little bit frustrating because you lose some track time, but it’s nothing that other teams wouldn’t have faced in their growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a bit more challenging for a new team because everyone’s got a brand new car, everyone’s got a brand new power unit, but every single tool that we use in the garage and back at base is new. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single thing in that garage is brand new, so everything’s had to have a shakedown. Whilst that’s obvious with mechanical things like fuel bowsers or something like that, it does get very complex when you’re talking about IT racks!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer configuration of a lot of this stuff is mind-blowing, but considering that challenge, we can be happy that we’re going to Melbourne still with a huge challenge but one that we’ll relish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if it is last in Australia (entirely possible), fails to score a point all season (ditto) and finishes bottom of the constructors\u2019 championship (likeliest of all) \u2013 Cadillac can still hold its head high this year as long as it doesn\u2019t seriously wobble from this strong foundation. <\/p>\n
The demands of starting a brand new F1 team from scratch are massive, especially when a drawn-out application process meant Cadillac had to be ready to go from \u2018entry approved\u2019 to \u2018F1 race debut\u2019 in just over 12 months. <\/p>\n
It has had to navigate setting up a new factory, new tools, new garage equipment, new systems, new processes \u2013 and Lowdon says he\u2019s been receiving messages from rival teams throughout pre-season who are very aware of the job Cadillac\u2019s done. These aren\u2019t polite platitudes or patronising messages of \u2018aw, haven\u2019t you done well\u2019 – it\u2019s genuine recognition from people who were in the middle of sorting their own cars and problems out, treating Cadillac as an equal.<\/p>\n
And though Lowdon\u2019s loath to commit to specific expectations or targets he does admit this all constitutes Cadillac achieving an intangible early aim. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can come away from the pre-season with a solid foundation, a team that’s really ready to push, with the objective of racing people as soon as we can\u2026that’s got to be seen as a huge achievement, whichever way you look at it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we respect these teams. Our first objective was actually to gain their respect and the way to do that is to start pushing them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of really very nice comments and messages from people in a lot of the teams just when we turned up in Barcelona. In fact, it happened when we did our shakedown in Silverstone and I got messages from some people at other teams who were focused on getting their shakedown done.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the message was very much, \u2018well done, I know how difficult it is because we’re sorting ours out!\u2019. That kind of respect, that was our first objective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proving it can be competitive<\/p>\n
That matters considering Cadillac had very few friends in the paddock when trying to get an entry, and had a big job to do to be taken seriously. Remember what F1 said about an earlier version of this project when its entry was initially rejected?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not believe that the applicant would be a competitive participant\u201d \u2013 that was part of the justification for dismissing what was still more overtly a Michael Andretti-led project but had many of the same key individuals involved, and ultimately similar intentions.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt what the entry eventually morphed into to get approval is different enough, and more credible. General Motors co-owns the team alongside TWG Global \u2013 which also owns Andretti, but that name has been shuffled out of the picture. <\/p>\n
An initial planned Renault engine deal wouldn\u2019t have been possible even if that entry was granted first time around because Renault\u2019s withdrawn as an engine manufacturer, and replacing it with a Ferrari supply is undeniably a better foundation. <\/p>\n
So it would be unfair to hang F1 by its own words where this team is concerned because it\u2019s not quite the same and it is in a better place for being forced into its eventual composition. But it is still an interesting point of reference. At times, this project has had to battle the clear implication it wouldn\u2019t be a \u2018proper\u2019 or a \u2018credible\u2019 team – often hidden beneath that notion of not being \u2018competitive\u2019. <\/p>\n
Lowdon\u2019s attitude to that is simple: \u201cWe can talk about our team as much as we want but if we don’t deliver in terms of mileage and performance and everything else, then all we’re doing is talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus on doing the basics right has been key to getting Cadillac ready for its debut. It\u2019s been pragmatic with its initial targets on the car side by not pushing production deadlines too hard or being over-ambitious with the starting point of the aerodynamic design itself. But it has still decided to build its own gearbox casings and rear suspension rather than take the whole hog from Ferrari, which is a big design and manufacturing undertaking and actually gives Cadillac a bigger workload than some customer teams such as Haas or Williams.<\/p>\n
And again, what that has led to is starting the season seemingly neck and neck with a team that is backed to the hilt with hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, a brand new factory, a new works engine deal, and Adrian Newey running the show.<\/p>\n
Of course, if Cadillac goes through the year drifting further away, getting lapped two or three times every race, that\u2019s not OK. But Cadillac at least looks likely to start 2026 able to give the best possible account of itself, be a very respectable debutant \u2013 and maybe claim an unlikely scalp in the process. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf anything it’s helped frame just how difficult the task is,\u201d Lowdon says, with one final polite sidestepping of the prospect of beating Aston Martin. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the thing is, we can’t sit back and say this has been a nice pre-season or whatever \u2013 because it means nothing if we don’t build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acutely aware of the huge task it faces, Cadillac\u2019s new Formula 1 team has gone about its business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-518599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}