Cadillac became the 11th team on the grid in 2026, and the first completely new entrant in Formula 1 for a decade. With the experienced Graeme Lowdon at the helm, the team have already exceeded expectations in many ways as they facilitated a return to the grid for Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. Here’s the state of play at the American squad after three rounds of the season\u2026<\/p>\n
How has the 2026 season gone so far?<\/p>\n
Quite well all things considered. Bringing a brand-new team to the grid is not for the faint-hearted, with Cadillac<\/a> having so much less data to draw on than their rivals. They knew they would be towards the back of the field, but were aiming for reliability and a solid base from which to build.<\/p>\n Testing went as expected \u2013 the American team had some issues, but did manage a very decent haul of laps across the six days in Bahrain.<\/p>\n Running the Ferrari<\/a> engines has helped, as at least that gives them more data to work with \u2013 the Scuderia supplying Haas<\/a> as well as their factory team. And those Ferrari engines have proved reasonably reliable too, with Perez<\/a> able to finish every race so far.<\/p>\n Bottas<\/a> saw the chequered flag in China and Japan, but retired in Australia midway through the Grand Prix with a fuel systems issue. He also ran into reliability woes in the Sprint in Shanghai, and then Cadillac suffered every team\u2019s worst nightmare with Perez and Bottas colliding in the Grand Prix in China.<\/p>\n It was deemed a racing incident by the stewards, with both drivers apologising<\/a> to each other afterwards.<\/p>\n No points yet, and no cars into Q2 in Qualifying but Bottas does have a P13 finish to his name, so there is certainly cause for optimism after three rounds of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Reasons to be hopeful<\/p>\n Cadillac\u2019s reliability has been solid, with Perez making it to the chequered flag in three out of three Grands Prix and the Sprint to boot. Many new teams have had far poorer reliability and been much further off the pace at the start of their F1 careers.<\/p>\n Perez finished on the lead lap in Japan, which in itself is a big improvement \u2013 in Australia he was three laps down at the flag. The team\u2019s qualifying performance has moved on too, with Perez over six tenths off Aston Martin<\/a> in Australia, but ahead of both green cars at Suzuka.<\/p>\n As Ferrari continue to gather crucial engine data, some of that will feed back to Cadillac as well, which should help the team optimise those power units \u2013 especially off the line.<\/p>\n Combine all of that with two drivers who know how top teams operate and how to win races, both of whom are putting the team first and bringing their considerable experience to the team, and it is hard to see anything but improvement for Cadillac this season.<\/p>\n Reasons to be cautious<\/p>\n