Decoding racing’s most-important ingredient with the Cadillac Formula 1® Team
2026-02-24
By: Kyle Kinard, Editorial Project Manager, GM News
Nothing is more complex than a Formula 1® car’s simplest-looking components: its tires. While Formula 1® tires may look pedestrian – round and rubbery like the ones on your own car – they’re one of the most cutting-edge components on an F1 starting grid.
And the most critical.
Tires transfer braking force to the track, translate aerodynamic optimizations into cornering speed, and ultimately deliver all the power made by Formula 1®’s powerful engines to the road; understanding tires is critical to success in Formula 1®. After all, tires are the only component that actually touches the ground.
Episode 7 of the What Makes Fast docuseries focuses on this immense challenge, taking fans all the way to Milan, Italy, into Pirelli’s top-secret tire testing lab. Behind the facility’s securely locked doors, engineering intuition meets cutting-edge tire technology. Here, each Formula 1® team is allotted an eight-hour testing session to assess this season’s tire compounds, and to compare simulation with real-world test results.
Two years of virtual development, packed with busy weeks dedicated solely to understanding the tires, have all led to this short test window, wherein the Cadillac Formula 1® Team will find out if its hard work was enough to bridge expectation and reality.
During the testing session, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team was led by Tire Science R&D Leader for GM Motorsports, Heather Bobbitt. At the Milan facility, Bobbitt and the Cadillac Formula 1® Team were given the opportunity to validate their virtual tire data on Pirelli’s real-world test rigs for the first time.
“It’s a high-pressure day,” notes Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola. “Because in eight hours, you have to concentrate on what you need the most.”
For the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, it’s an absolutely critical stop for the car’s development, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“Are we actually going be able to correlate our model?” Bobbitt noted as the test approached. “Are we going say that, ‘Yep, we were in the ballpark, we’re in the window,’ or we may learn that we were way off.”
As the Cadillac Formula 1® Team’s journey continues, the team draws ever closer to its first race when – if you’ll excuse a tire(d) cliche – the rubber finally meets the road.
Watch episode 7 below.
By: Kyle Kinard, Editorial Project Manager, GM News
Nothing is more complex than a Formula 1® car’s simplest-looking components: its tires. While Formula 1® tires may look pedestrian – round and rubbery like the ones on your own car – they’re one of the most cutting-edge components on an F1 starting grid.
And the most critical.
Tires transfer braking force to the track, translate aerodynamic optimizations into cornering speed, and ultimately deliver all the power made by Formula 1®’s powerful engines to the road; understanding tires is critical to success in Formula 1®. After all, tires are the only component that actually touches the ground.
Episode 7 of the What Makes Fast docuseries focuses on this immense challenge, taking fans all the way to Milan, Italy, into Pirelli’s top-secret tire testing lab. Behind the facility’s securely locked doors, engineering intuition meets cutting-edge tire technology. Here, each Formula 1® team is allotted an eight-hour testing session to assess this season’s tire compounds, and to compare simulation with real-world test results.
Two years of virtual development, packed with busy weeks dedicated solely to understanding the tires, have all led to this short test window, wherein the Cadillac Formula 1® Team will find out if its hard work was enough to bridge expectation and reality.
During the testing session, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team was led by Tire Science R&D Leader for GM Motorsports, Heather Bobbitt. At the Milan facility, Bobbitt and the Cadillac Formula 1® Team were given the opportunity to validate their virtual tire data on Pirelli’s real-world test rigs for the first time.
“It’s a high-pressure day,” notes Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola. “Because in eight hours, you have to concentrate on what you need the most.”
For the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, it’s an absolutely critical stop for the car’s development, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“Are we actually going be able to correlate our model?” Bobbitt noted as the test approached. “Are we going say that, ‘Yep, we were in the ballpark, we’re in the window,’ or we may learn that we were way off.”
As the Cadillac Formula 1® Team’s journey continues, the team draws ever closer to its first race when – if you’ll excuse a tire(d) cliche – the rubber finally meets the road.
Watch episode 7 below.