The clock is literally ticking until Cadillac makes its Formula One debut. “On the wall of every office that we have is a countdown clock,” team principal Graeme Lowdon told The Associated Press. “It’s counting down to two things.”
The first is the moment Cadillac’s new power unit and car combined fires up for the very first time. The second is free practice at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, where the American giant will officially join F1’s grid.
It’s the start of a new mission for General Motors, and the end of years of wrangling — a saga that has featured protracted negotiations with F1, changes in name and leadership, and even a brush with the U.S. Justice Department.
Lowden. The “inverse Ted Lasso’
Lowdon, a British racing veteran parachuted in to build an American team, jokes that he feels like the “inverse Ted Lasso” — the fictional American football coach awkwardly managing a London soccer club.
His role is part cultural translator, part strategist. Hired for his experience navigating F1’s labyrinthine team-approval process, Lowdon has had to quickly adapt to U.S. motorsport culture. Cadillac will base its chassis production in Fishers, Indiana, with a secondary design hub near Silverstone in the UK.
But despite the European footprint, the project is rooted in GM’s vision of an authentically American F1 team. “Formula 1 is a very creative business,” Lowdon said. “With diversity of thought comes innovation — and hopefully lap time.”
Launching a brand-new F1 team outside the sport’s European heartlands has rarely worked. Haas, F1’s other “American” team, operates out of Britain and designs its cars in Italy. Cadillac wants something bolder.
Cadillac look to NASA
Rather than pour over old case studies of failed F1 outfits, Lowdon looked elsewhere — to NASA.
“The Apollo missions had immovable deadlines, massive public scrutiny, multiple sites, and incredibly technical demands,” he explained. “I studied how NASA structured itself and saw clever management approaches we could apply to F1. The key was maximising peer-to-peer communication between engineers.”
It’s an unusual blueprint, but if F1 is anything, it’s an engineering race. Cadillac believes the space-race mindset might give it an edge. What Cadillac must not learn from NASA is the huge overspend most of their projects suffer, together with mission creep which could see the team enter many a blind alley.
If most teams have their drivers embedded in the design of their 2026 challengers, Cadillac’s situation is unique. The team hasn’t announced a lineup — yet.
Mick Schumacher signed
Lowdon insists that’s not a disadvantage. In fact, he believes Cadillac has more leverage than most. “Because we’re out of sync with the other teams, we’re not under the same time pressure,” he said. “No driver is sitting there saying, ‘Oh yeah, Aston Martin are going to sign me next week,’ if you don’t sign them.”
The shortlist currently sits at “three or four names.” That list includes displaced veterans like Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu, all of whom lost their seats after 2024. There’s also talk of American talent, plus ex-F1 hopefuls like Mick Schumacher.
Mick Schumacher is currently racing for Alpine in the World endurance Championship, yet recent reports suggest he is nailed on to sign for Cadillac and their from running WEC outfit, Jota. He would replace the ageing Jenson Button in the team, but also be able to act as reserve driver for the Formula One team too.
Schumacher was highly valued at Mercedes in his reserve driver role and his dedicated work behind the scenes was Mae plain at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. In Friday practice Hamilton was almost a second off the pace in practice, before Schumacher put in an all night shift in the Mercedes simulator.
Hamilton praises Mick’s setup work
“Friday was a real struggle with the balance, it was way out of the window,” Hamilton reported. “It was very hard to drive, very unpredictable. And then we did some great work overnight. Mick tested scores of potential changes to the Merdcedes’ car setup which resulted in there gap to the front runners being halved and come Sunday George Russell claimed the final step on the podium.
“We’ve got a great team, with Mick back in the simulator on Friday night, and he did some great work, which helped us get on the right track on Saturday,” Hamilton declared.
Whoever gets the nod, Cadillac wants drivers who can develop the car as much as race it — and who are willing to gamble their futures on a brand-new outfit. For now, every office clock at Cadillac ticks down to the same moment: fire-up, and then Melbourne.
Wolff responds to brutal Rosberg attack
Bottas to be revealed in Zandvoort
This week it has emerged that Cadillac has in fact made a decision over the first driver it intends to sign. fomurla.hu reports Valtteri Bottas will be revealed as Cadillac’s first signing at the next round of the season in the Netherlands. This would fulfil the team’s stated desire to bag at least one experienced F1 driver and will leave Sergio Perez, sweating over whether his chance for an F1 return will now come.
Cadillac have indicated they want to peruse some testing of previous cars, as allowed for in the FIA regulations, and Ferrari are believed to be readying one of their 2023 cars raced by Leclerc and Sainz, for their new power unit customer to take out for a spin.
For Cadillac, the stakes couldn’t be higher. GM has the money, the facilities, and the ambition. What it doesn’t have is proof. In a sport where failure is brutally public, Cadillac is chasing credibility, not just lap times.
And as Lowdon knows all too well, F1 isn’t about romantic debuts or slick press releases. It’s about execution. On track, in the factory, and on the stopwatch. The countdown ends in March. Then comes the real test.
Ford go all win on Red Bull gamble
Formula 1 has never been short on high-stakes gambles, but Ford diving headfirst into Red Bull’s 2026 power unit project feels less like a safe bet and more like a Vegas all-in on a dodgy hand. What started as a tidy little side hustle in hybrid components has morphed into Ford mucking around with the full internal combustion engine too.
On paper, it sounds bold. In reality? It reeks of desperation. Red Bull is in flux, Ford has previous F1 baggage, and Mercedes are sitting back with the popcorn.
Let’s be real: Ford’s F1 track record is a mixed bag at best. Yes, they have the legendary Cosworth DFV in their trophy cabinet — the engine that dominated the sport through the ’70s and early ’80s. Back then, Ford looked like they ‘got it’…. READ MORE….
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
