How Cadillac Aims To Harness “Competitive Advantage” To Shake Up F1 [Exclusive]

Testing for the 2026 Formula 1 season gets underway in 10 weeks, with the sport ushering in a new era of technical regulations as Cadillac makes its long-awaited arrival on the grid.

Preparations for the General Motors brand are well underway, with the race operations team having undergone numerous weekend simulations as well as testing a 2023 Ferrari with confirmed driver Sergio Perez.

Key personnel hirings are driving the team forward and, with the 11th team building its presence off-track before its debut on it, crucial commercial and marketing posts have been filled.

One of those posts was confirmed in the run-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix last weekend, with former Unilever sport and entertainment lead Willem Dinger joining as chief partnerships officer.

In an exclusive interview with Grand Prix on SI, Dinger details how Cadillac is gearing up for its maiden F1 campaign by creating a portfolio of strategic brand partnerships, its quest to conquer the American market, and how important Perez, teammate Valtteri Bottas, and reserve driver Colton Herta will be on that journey.

An ecosystem built from the ground up

Courtesy of Jim Beam

“For me, Cadillac Formula 1 team presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Dinger explains, clearly excited by the opportunity to start a new project from new – the team having already announced a partnership with Jim Beam.

“This ability to build a modern partnership ecosystem from the ground up, really backed by the scale of General Motors, also with the racing pedigree of TWG Motorsports and the cultural relevance of an iconic American luxury brand like Cadillac, it’s very unique, it’s exclusive and that is one of the reasons why I was so lured by this opportunity to leave Unilever.

“To be able to build an incredible commercial partnership ecosystem from the ground up… and that’s essentially my role in terms of making sure that the partners, the brands that I’m bringing in, they’re going to be kind of a world-class portfolio of partnerships, really commercially strong, culturally connected.

“And also very much building and leaning into the authentic values that we want to drive as part of our team, to be bold, to be innovative, to be leaders, to be pioneers, and really making sure that the types of partners that we bring in are long-term strategic partnerships.

“It’s working with organizations that we’re able to cut through culture, to really drive fan-first strategies. It’s really important for us that as a team that we’re building fandom, that we’re recruiting new fans, not inside Formula 1 but also within sport and also within entertainment.

“And for us, it’s about working with these brands to create these really exclusive, one-of-a-kind, unique moments that really resonate across digital, social, experiential, and also other kinds of community channels.”

F1’s accelerated growth an opportunity for Cadillac

Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc

F1’s recent growth — especially in the United States — has seen a vast change in commercial health this decade, both for teams and the championship itself.

Since Liberty Media acquired F1 in 2017, changes have been enforced to make the sport more accessible both for commercial partners and fans — the evolution is clear to see with the spectacle in Las Vegas, with growth accelerated by the successes of Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive and this year’s F1 Movie, making it the perfect time for a new entity to join.

“When you’re looking at Formula 1 overall, it’s not just a Formula 1 core motorsports audience,” Dinger says.

“Formula 1 has really turned into an entertainment content media platform and also the way that a lot of consumers are connecting with Formula 1 is through fashion, music, celebrity, it’s through all of these different subcultures.

“So the ability for us to be able to tap into a younger, more diverse audience that are really connecting with Formula 1 through Netflix’s Drive to Survive, or the Formula 1 movie, or through music, or through other different subcultures allows us to really work and partner with different fans and ecosystems to be able to drive value for these audiences through the Cadillac Formula 1 team proposition.

“Because when you’re looking at the US landscape overall, the fan base in the U.S. has already risen by 10-11% year on year since 2023.

“I think it’s up to 52 million fans in the US, and one of the things that we’re seeing is that only 21% of Formula 1 fans in the US actually support a Formula 1 team.

“So actually our role to be able to drive further penetration and win the hearts and minds of that 79% that haven’t affiliated with a Formula 1 team is a huge opportunity for us to drive fandom in the US and with us really stylizing ourselves as the truly American Formula 1 team, I think gives us a competitive advantage to be able to drive fandom and really win the hearts and minds of these different fans in the US and also outside as we’re driving expansion and activity beyond the US borders.

“I think that is essentially an opportunity when we’re talking to brands and partners as the American original team to be able to come on board and be that founding partner and be with us through that 5-10 year journey as we kind of drive the performance of the team as we begin in 2026.”

A true American team

While Cadillac has positioned itself as the only US OEM on the F1 grid from next season, it faces an American rivalry with the Haas outfit, which is American-owned, though largely run out of a base in the United Kingdom.

But asked about the potential competition between the two squads, Dinger insists: “We just want to focus on ourselves.

“We’ve got an incredible base in the UK where we’re doing the design and development of the team, but we’re also building a huge facility in Indianapolis — Fishers — which is going to be the home of the Cadillac Formula 1 team.

“That facility or headquarters is going to be ready in Q3, Q4 2026. So this is going to be the home of Formula 1 and no other Formula 1 team can say that they have got an HQ set up in the US.

“So that’s where we’re really investing. We’ve got the engine development happening in Charlotte. We’ve got General Motors who’ve got their base in Detroit.

“So we’ve got a huge American footprint and when you couple that with the races in Las Vegas, in Miami and also in Austin, it gives us a huge opportunity to ensure that the way that we activate, the way that we programme, the way that we win fandom through the different kind of marketing initiatives that we’re driving, I think is a huge competitive advantage for us to be able to capitalise on as the true Formula 1 team, as the true American Formula 1 team.”

That ability to collaborate with the three hosts of the US-based races was underlined by Circuit of the Americas chairman Bobby Epstein earlier this year, who suggested that activations including Cadillac hot laps, garage tours, and hospitality opportunities could be an option for both parties to engage with.

COTA chairman Bobby Epstein | IMAGO / LaPresse

To that point, Dinger explains: “What we’re doing is we’re still finalizing our activity roadmap, but one thing that we’re trying to do differently is the way that we’re driving partnership value back to the brands that we want to partner with.

“So one of the things that we’re doing in terms of driving additional fandom and fan-first strategies is that we’re producing a docuseries, which is being produced in collaboration with Keanu Reeves.

“So this is a docuseries that will be teased in February and launched probably closer to May next year, which is about telling the story of our journey of General Motors, TWG, our shareholders in the journey of Cadillac Formula 1 team into Formula 1.

“There are lots of different ways for our partners to be integrated into the way that we build and generate our social content, our experiential activations, and this is just a great example of how we want to be relevant in those big cultural moments in the US specifically.

“We feel that when you’re looking at the overall roadmap of testing Bahrain, Barcelona, and also how we want to try and build a series of firsts, I think that just shows our ambition about how we want to be different and how we want to drive additional value to our partner ecosystem beyond just branding on the cars and access and experiences that a general Formula 1 team would be providing their partners.

“The way that we can partner with a Miami or COTA or Las Vegas race and the way that we can dial up our kind of programming, particularly when we’re bringing on American original brands and also brands from the international sphere that want to use Cadillac Formula 1 team as a way to drive impact and create a partner and engage with new audiences that are connected with Cadillac gives a lot of opportunity for brands to be able to be relevant in the U.S. market specifically.”

What can Perez and Bottas bring Cadillac?

The driver line-up of Perez and Bottas brings obvious benefits for the team led by Graeme Lowdon, with race-winning experience vital in helping to shape the foundations for Cadillac’s race operations.

But with Perez’s backing from Mexico and Bottas’ newfound social media stardom in recent years, the team has a strong basis to build a commercial portfolio from.

“I think having Checo and Valtteri is a huge win, particularly when we’re looking at it from a marketing and partnership perspective,” Dinger beamed.

“Checo and Valtteri bring so much experience – 17, 18 podiums between them have worked with Mercedes, Red Bull before, so really experienced and that is exactly what we need right now, particularly when we’re working with partners.

“Checo’s fan base in the US is huge. I’m already seeing news that the Mexico Grand Prix next year is almost already sold out, so that just shows the desirability and demand that he’s driving in Mexico.

“He’s also got a huge Latin American following. Valtteri, a fun, very quirky character, a lot of brands are very interested in working with Valtteri, particularly because of his social media content and I think that just gives us a lot of flexibility and agility, but also a lot of presence to be able to work with brands and bring brands on because of the profile that Checo and Valtteri bring.

“Very experienced, they’ve been in the game a long time, they understand the value that they will bring to partners, and partners are also seeing the value that they’ll bring to their social media campaigns, but their overall marketing campaigns specifically.

Valtteri Bottas, current Mercedes third driver, will join Cadillac for 2026 | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team

“Again, a huge competitive advantage for us, and a huge asset to the team overall, both in their experience on the technical front, their driving abilities, their global profiles, and I think that will just hold us in extremely good stead for 2026.”

The American theme continues with former IndyCar star Colton Herta, who has made the switch to F2 as he dovetails his reserve role with an aim of reaching the grid full-time.

Explaining that Herta is a “huge asset to the team,” Dinger adds: “Having an American as one of our driver line-up is a huge advantage for us, particularly from a marketing perspective, but also in terms of just supporting Checo and also Valtteri, making sure that we’ve got a high-performing car for next year.”

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