Listen below or watch the interview on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\nNO EASY TASK<\/p>\n
The Cadillac concept on its own is ambitious: a trans-Atlantic team owned and administered across two campuses in the United States with a factory in the UK representing one of the world\u2019s largest auto manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Adding in the compressed timeline amped up the already sky-high difficulty considerably.<\/p>\n
Once the entry hit Lowdon\u2019s inbox, the countdown to Melbourne was on.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight from the very start we put countdown clocks on the walls of every office counting down to FP1 in Melbourne,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cA year sounds a long time, but \u2026 we didn\u2019t just have to get these cars on track in time for a shakedown [at pre-season testing]; you\u2019ve got to build them, and before you build them, you\u2019ve got to manufacture all the bits, and before you manufacture the bits, you\u2019ve got to design them, and before you design them, you\u2019ve got hire the people to design them and then you\u2019ve got to put in place all of the systems \u2014 the [computer-aided design] systems, the [enterprise resource planning] systems \u2014 everything that a modern manufacturing company needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing that across two continents as well. We\u2019re building factories in Indianapolis in Indiana, in Charlotte in North Carolina and then also at Silverstone as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you take a step back and look at it, the biggest challenge is definitely time.\u201d<\/p>\n
And really the deadline was tighter than the ever-ticking clocks suggested. Formula 1\u2019s first pre-season test in Barcelona was in January, almost six weeks before Melbourne, and Cadillac committed to its first private shakedown more than a week before that.<\/p>\n
The improbability of Cadillac\u2019s task \u2014 under sweeping new chassis and engine regulations to boot \u2014 is what had many observers suggesting the team\u2019s first season would be disastrous.<\/p>\n
Some believed the team would struggle to meet the rarely mentioned 107 per cent rule, the regulation that prevents cars from taking part in a grand prix if they\u2019re too slow in qualifying.<\/p>\n
If an outright lack of speed didn\u2019t get it, reliability surely would finish the job in the most complex regulatory era in Formula 1 history.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s transpired though, is something completely different.<\/p>\n
At all three pre-season tests Cadillac avoided last place in the mileage tally. Both cars qualified easily for the Australian Grand Prix. Though only one car saw the chequered flag in Melbourne, both finished the subsequent two races in China and Japan.<\/p>\n
Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon (Photo by Clive Mason\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Remarkably the team has hauled itself off the bottom of the championship table. That\u2019s thanks of course to Aston Martin\u2019s catastrophic start to the season, but then that\u2019s exactly the point \u2014 whereas a longstanding and cashed-up team with state-of-the-art, fully constructed facilities has been tripped up in 2026, Cadillac looks established beyond its years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can see from what\u2019s happened with some of the other teams, the regulation set is super difficult,\u201d Lowdon says. \u201cFormula 1 is super difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome teams are struggling to start grands prix, let alone finish them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own view is that the whole team has done a spectacular job, actually.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to go from literally what we had, which was an empty room and a set of regulations, to building a Formula 1 team to competing against the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes and McLaren.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese teams that have been doing it for a huge amount of time. Even the newest team prior to us on the on the grid [Haas] have been there for at least a decade or so. It\u2019s not an easy task at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerformance-wise we\u2019re not completely at the back, so from that point of view it\u2019s encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Culture is key.<\/p>\n
At the helm of a brand-new team, Lowdon has had the chance to set the tone \u2014 and as someone who\u2019s spent years in top-line motorsport, including in Formula 1, he understood the challenge of building up competitive outfit in a competitive and highly specialised environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormula 1 is the greatest team sport in the world, that\u2019s my view,\u201d he explains. \u201cAll team sports are about people, so the biggest asset on your side is building that team of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we tried to do from the very start is get the very best people that we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the team to be the team that everybody wants to join and nobody wants to leave and everyone\u2019s proud to be part of, and I genuinely believe that that\u2019s part of the achievement that we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it\u2019s just been a lot of late nights and all nights and early starts and everything else because, as I said before, time is the biggest penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadillac drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez on track (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
AMERICA\u2019S NEW HOME TEAM<\/p>\n
It puts Cadillac in a perhaps unexpected position ahead of this weekend\u2019s Miami Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
This was always going to be its first home race, but after the first three grands prix it will arrive not as a flailing start-up asking for patience but as a respectable new team earning its stripes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the dream scenario for both the Cadillac brand and for Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Cadillac the first General Motors marque ever to be involved in F1, and though it lacks an in-house engine now, GM has committed to fielding its own power unit by the end of the decade to turn the team into a fully fledged works entry.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a boon for F1\u2019s mission to solidify its place in the American sporting landscape.<\/p>\n
The United States was a previously undercapitalised market for Formula 1, which spent stretches without so much as a grand prix in the country.<\/p>\n
Liberty Media\u2019s takeover almost a decade ago patched up Formula 1\u2019s relationship with the USA as a matter of priority. The US boasts three grands prix: the perennially sold-out races in Austin and Miami and its showpiece race in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
American interest is growing rapidly, but the sport is acutely aware that the final step in concreting its hold in the world\u2019s biggest consumer market is US representation.<\/p>\n
Cadillac \u2014 an all-American brand with a motorsport history \u2014 could bridge the gap.<\/p>\n
Lowdon says the power of the GM brand was evident even before one of his cars first turned a wheel this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething happened last year which really kind of woke me up to it a little bit,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been going to grands prix in various roles for quite some time now, and most of the time you slip into the paddock, slip out and nobody notices.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in Austin last year I got stopped constantly on the street by American Formula 1 fans, who were very, very proud to say that they could support Cadillac and they were looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not American, but that doesn\u2019t really matter. What the fans are interested in is this fantastic brand which has not only got a very long history of innovation and the like but also racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cReal race fans understand that GM has been involved in racing for a long time in a lot of different series, and they\u2019re very loyal to the series that they go into.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just this whole swath of fans who are really excited. That was the thing that came across to me \u2014 I just met a lot of excited F1 fans or people who were going to be F1 fans because they feel that they had a brand that they can identify with and support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a bit of a wake-up moment for me because I guess we\u2019d just been head down looking at clocks on the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was brilliant to have that feedback, and I genuinely think in Miami we\u2019ll see more of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo by Peter Fox\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
THE DEADLINES NEVER STOP<\/p>\n
The April break, between the Japanese and Miami grands prix, was a welcome one for Lowdon as he sat down to speak with Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
The start of the season \u2014 the previous 12 months in fact \u2014 had been a rush just to bring Cadillac to life. Four successive weekends without racing allowed for a certain amount of reflection on the project\u2019s early days.<\/p>\n
Cadillac has been cautious not to set itself targets this year. Part of it is pure pragmatism under new rules that had the potential to massively shake up the pecking order, but a more significant component was expectation management. Even if Lowdon had been optimistic the team could start on a respectable footing, the line between decent and dire was unknowably thin.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never really know where you\u2019re going to be in terms of performance, because it is a relative game,\u201d he says. \u201cWe could invent what we think is an absolutely fabulous car and then find out that 10 other teams have done an even better job.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if someone had said in advance that we are well inside the 107, which is kind of the benchmark for where a team from a standing start could end up\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we did say was that we have huge respect for the other teams. I\u2019ve worked with many of them. I\u2019ve certainly worked with a lot of people in them, and I have massive respect for those people.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur first target was to gain the respect of our competitors, and I genuinely think we\u2019ve done that already with the way that we\u2019ve turned up and the performance of the car and the attitude to the sporting side and everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to think that we\u2019ve either achieved or are well on our way to achieving that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a decent start and respect from rivals doesn\u2019t mean much in Formula 1. Cadillac isn\u2019t investing in the team to qualify respectably in Q1 or finish commendably out of the points. The honourable loss is a myth when there are hundreds of millions of dollars at play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key thing for us now is how we progress as opposed to where we started,\u201d Lowdon says. \u201cThat was really what we emphasised with the owners, with the people who\u2019ve really invested the time and effort and money and resource in the team, is to really look at how we go from here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that we demonstrate forward momentum. This is a difficult game. Nobody stands still in Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadillac\u2019s renowned omnipresent countdown clocks struck zero on the Friday of the Australian Grand Prix, the first official day of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris Green, our head of IT, actually had a small version of the countdown clock in the garage in Melbourne, and it ticked the seconds down to the start of FP1, and I thought that was actually quite cool, because we\u2019d spent weeks and months and days looking at these countdown clocks,\u201d Lowdon says.<\/p>\n
But the pressure of time never ceases in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always made it clear that the destination for us wasn\u2019t just being at the first race. It\u2019s building the whole team and moving beyond that.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of [the clocks] were embedded in TV screens, which now show some other deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadillac\u2019s clock keeps ticking. Tick-tock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tick-tock. Before its drivers first saw the chequered flag, before the first practice lap, before even the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[8454,2095,308385,308395,53234,1724,64,14017,63,689,223182,936,937,308387,308393,308394,308383,33102,73337,49522,512,189226,68659,308376,106228,308379,308371,306817,70686,9239,308369,49589,172256,308381,2057,308391,817,308378,308377,308389,275451,2755,813,816,59975,2105,17670,841,43357,14211,84708,45900,308384,12268,934,941,34866,2623,41544,308380,5120,825,647,5140,82966,308382,308396,2627,2041,31659,2067,677,121518,308397,308374,90128,2119,308388,308375,12022,31307,308372,38764,308386,2072,308370,3595,2020,85,18263,9134,3370,152532,308373,2614,660,12000,308392,308390],"class_list":["post-637134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alex-marquez","tag-america","tag-american-interest","tag-american-sporting-landscape","tag-american-team","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-austin","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-auto-manufacturers","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-cadillac-drivers","tag-cadillac-team","tag-cadillac-team-principal","tag-cashed-up-team","tag-championship-table","tag-charlotte","tag-chequered-flag","tag-china","tag-chris-green","tag-colton-herta","tag-common-source-component-designs","tag-consumer-market","tag-countdown-clocks","tag-countdown-timer","tag-crashes-outmotorsport","tag-dream-scenario","tag-eastern-asia","tag-engine-fire-up","tag-engine-regulations","tag-enterprise-resource-planning","tag-entry-process","tag-europe","tag-expectation-management","tag-f1","tag-fantastic-brand","tag-final-step","tag-fledged-works-entry","tag-fledgling-team","tag-florida","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-general-motors-company","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-graeme-lowdon","tag-grand-prix","tag-grand-prix-session","tag-grands-prix","tag-home-race","tag-home-team","tag-in-principle-approval","tag-indiana","tag-indianapolis","tag-japan","tag-joe-portlock","tag-las-vegas","tag-liberty-media-corporation","tag-manufacturing-company-needs","tag-matt","tag-max-verstappen","tag-melbourne","tag-miami","tag-michael-andretti","tag-mileage-tally","tag-modern-manufacturing-company","tag-nevada","tag-north-america","tag-north-carolina","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-official-day","tag-official-grand-prix","tag-omnipresent-countdown-clocks","tag-peter-fox","tag-pit-talk","tag-practice-lap","tag-prize-pot-split","tag-province-of-barcelona","tag-race-engineer","tag-real-race-fans","tag-regulation-set","tag-relative-game","tag-sergio-perez","tag-showpiece-race","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-team-needs","tag-team-sports","tag-texas","tag-ticking-clock","tag-top-line-motorsport","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria","tag-western-asia","tag-wind-tunnel-tyres","tag-works-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637134","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=637134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n