Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon insisted it was acceptable for the outfit to “feel the emotion” of finally entering the F1 paddock, in what is the next “big step” for the American outfit.
This week’s five-day test in Barcelona has represented Cadillac’s first time in the F1 paddock as a team on the grid, with both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez having driven on Monday.
Bottas drove Cadillac’s 2026 car on Monday morning, before Perez took over for the first afternoon session of the week.
Both drivers confirmed that issues were experienced, something Cadillac is not concerned about and deems perfectly natural for a brand-new F1 team.
Simply making Barcelona represents an extraordinary achievement, having only received the green light to become the 11th outfit in the paddock in the opening months of last year.
In less than 12 months, Cadillac has gone from not even being an F1 team to successfully running in the first pre-season test, something Lowdon is immensely proud of.
Discussing Cadillac officially being in the F1 paddock, Lowdon told F1TV: “Yeah, it is a big step, and it’s okay to allow ourselves a tiny little bit of time to feel the emotion. But I think the overriding feeling is that it feels like business as usual, as a proper Formula 1 team.
“And we’re getting stuck into the same work that everybody else is. And, you know, huge, huge, huge respect to everybody in the team.
“I’m so lucky to be in this situation where I can work with so many really talented people, both here at the track, back at Silverstone, back in Indianapolis, and in Charlotte as well.
“And it’s a great feeling to be really feeling as if we’re on our way now.”