Why Cadillac will test with Ferrari’s 2023 car – With McLaren runaway leaders in both Formula One championships this year, the only question remaining is which of their drivers will claim their maiden F1 drivers’ title. Whilst that’s the big issue to yet be resolved, there’s much for the other teams to achieve although ultimately it will be a season of disappointment for Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Yet it is the biggest change in F1 car and power unit design regulations for a generation which is gathering momentum with weekly updates coming on how the drivers are finding the simulation of the next generation of F1 cars together with this weeks admission from the FIA that the rules of engagement for 2026 are “not finalised.”
Cadillac will become the eleventh F1 team next year, after a long battle to join the sport was only resolved at the 2024 USGP. They will become the sport’s first brand new team since Haas F1 made their debut in 2016. Unlike Haas, who had complete freedom to do as they pleased until pre-season testing in 2016, Cadillac are bound by many of the restrictions the current teams face.
Cadillac to test 2023 Ferrari F1 car
The most crucial information any new F1 team will lack is historical data on how their cars performed at various circuits in a variety of conditions. Yet given the cars will be radically different next year, this will be less of a handicap than had Cadillac joined in the middle of a rules cycle.
Even so, Cadillac will perform a number of tests during there autumn under the FIA’s TPC regulations, which allow testing of cars which are two years old. Of course Cadillac doesn’t have a 2023 car but given they are to be supplied by Ferrari with their power units, a deal has been done with Maranello for them to borrow one of the SF-23’s.
However, with the massive change in car design coming for 2026, what is the point of Cadillac going testing with a car that will in no way represent the cars of tomorrow? Having signed two experienced F1 drivers with 16 wins and 106 podiums between them, both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez spent a year driving the 2023 F1 editions and then their successors in 2024.
Why test if the cars will be so different?
The aerodynamics of next seasons F1 racing prototypes will be unlike anything ever seen in the sport before. The drivers will activate the front and rear wing angles for cornering and a different position for along the straights together with a new push to pass – super boost system – which has yet to be defined in how it will operate.
With its Silverstone base putting the finishing touches on the 2026 challenger, Cadillac’s focus is on ensuring personnel are fully race-ready. Team Principal Graeme Lowdon explained to The Race that the squad is already running detailed “event simulations.”
“We don’t have a TPC car or a current car that we can operate, but we are already simulating race events,” he said. “The next one we’re doing is Monza, and we simulate it as if it is a complete race weekend — Thursday through Sunday — with full integration of everyone in the team.”
Cadillac CEO reacts to Horner joining
Building race weekend operations
Lowdon revealed that the last rehearsal involved 50 to 60 engineers across the UK and US, all working as if in a real Grand Prix scenario. “We’ve got a very clear plan in our build-up to Melbourne next year,” he added. “It doesn’t just involve simulations, but that part is really important.”
While personnel preparation is the immediate priority, Lowdon confirmed that physical car testing is also on the horizon, albeit with outside help. “Obviously, we have to work with others to be able to do that, but that’s perfectly allowable under the regulations,” he explained. “We’re steadily building up so that when we get to Melbourne, we hit the ground running.”
The approach is designed to ensure the team avoids the teething problems that often plague new entrants. “We won’t be in a position where people are hearing voices for the first time or working together for the first time,” Lowdon stressed.
With Bottas and Pérez bringing vast experience, Cadillac believes it has the leadership needed to accelerate its learning curve. “The drivers play such an important part,” Lowdon said. “And the one thing I can tell you, just from spending time with them, is that there’s a huge amount of enthusiasm to get going.”
Cadillac have experienced race crew members
Yet for many of the new Cadillac employees, going to an F1 race weekend will not be their first rodeo. The team has been recruiting furiously from their soon to be competitors since they were given the green light to join the sport ten months ago. However, the timing of how to handle a two second tyre change with fifteen people crowded around the car is something which can only come with practice and the TPC testing will afford the race crew the time to practice.
Further, the interrogation of the data from the tests will provide an opportunity for the engineers in the garage to trial the processes they will use at a Grand Prix weekend next year. Learning to interact with the drivers resulting from data analysis will be important as will Bottas and Perez’s feedback on how the session went and the balance of the car changed with each adjustment.
Of course Cadillac won’t be able to merely plug and play with their SF-23, they will require support from the Maranello engineers. Bottas in particular will be of help when it comes to the Ferrari power unit, given it was Ferrari power which he most recently used in his time at Kick Sauber.
Testing a 2023 F1 car and simulating a race weekend will in fact invaluable experience for the Cadillac engineers who will refine their working practices and communications with their drivers. The exact nature of the car used in testing is kind of irrelevant, but come Melbourne next March all eyes will be on Cadillac, their it stops will be scrutinised and how they perform as a team will be under the microscope.
Ferrari’s rear suspension gamble to define its season
Fred Vasseur made the first big misstep of his career at the head of the Ferrari F1 racing team when he was persuaded by his engineers that their 2026 challenger should be designed from the ground up. At the Maranello festive bash where the Ferrari grandees and media mingled, Fred announced boldly: “We are in the fourth year of applying these regulations and we know our previous project very well. That is why the 2025 car will be completely new.”
As if to underscore his point, Vasseur added that the 2025 Ferrari “will share less than 1 percent” with the red single seater that was raced by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in 2024. At the time TJ13 challenged Vasseur’s thinking given the SF-24 was the class of the field over the closing six race weekends.
Prior to the two triple head weekends which concluded the 2024 competition, Ferrari sat 79 points behind McLaren who were leading the constructors’ championship. Come the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, the gap had been slashed to just 14 points. Ferrari were on a roll and their trajectory would have seen them claim their first championship had there been one more race weekend to come….. 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.
