Cadillac became the first all-new team to join the Formula 1 grid in a decade when they competed in their first ever Formula 1 weekend at the Australian Grand Prix.
And while Valtteri Bottas was unable to finish Sunday’s race, Sergio Perez came home in 16th place to ensure the American outfit sealed a race finish at the first attempt.
Cadillac are the first completely new team to join Formula 1 since Haas did so back in 2016, so let’s take a look at how Melbourne panned out for the F1 newcomers, and where they go from here.
What happened in Qualifying and the Grand Prix?
Putting one car through its paces in testing is one thing, getting two out there on track is quite another. Cadillac did just that throughout the Melbourne weekend, managing three fairly clean practice sessions to boot – although Perez did suffer an unusual spin in FP1.
Come Qualifying, both cars exited in Q1, which was no surprise, but they competed with both drivers managing multiple push laps on the soft tyre. With Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll both unable to take part due to car problems, Cadillac showed impressive reliability in their first ever Qualifying session.
Unfortunately, come raceday, reliability did finally cost them when Bottas was forced to park up on the grass with a fuel system issue. But they weren’t the only team to suffer in the Grand Prix – Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin also retired, while Nico Hulkenberg didn’t even manage to start for Audi.
Perez finished the race three laps down in 16th place, ahead of Stroll, with the team now having something to build on as they look to gain more experience in F1.
‘We made history’ – What Bottas and Perez said on their return to F1
Bottas and Perez have brought plenty of experience to Cadillac, both in terms of how the top teams operate and also as multiple Grand Prix winners. They are under no illusions of the task facing the team, but were both pleased with how the first race went.
“We made history as a team today,” Bottas said. “Our first-ever Grand Prix weekend, and we’re here, we’re racing, and that’s a proud moment for everyone.
“It’s a shame that the race was cut short for me due to a fuel system problem, but we learned a lot. The team did a great job to finish the race with Checo’s car.
“There’s still a lot of positives to take from this weekend, and it’s only the very start of this journey together. I enjoyed the process and can’t wait to get to China and try again.”
Perez added: “Completing the race is incredible and a real achievement just one year after the entry was confirmed. Now this is over, we need to move on to adding performance so we can really race hard.
“We’re feeling competitive within the team, and that’s the attitude we need from now on to be able to close the gap and aim for something big.”
Lowdon has ‘enormous belief in the team’
Team Principal Graeme Lowdon is no stranger to the world of F1, and knows how fiercely competitive it is. Nor was he ever under any illusions over how hard it would be to build a new team from scratch.
Cadillac are aiming to build a data pool and learn from every race before trying to break into the midfield battle, which based on a sample size of one race, looks highly competitive and surprisingly tight.
“I’m really happy with the performance of the team,” he said after the race. “We had some issues with Valtteri’s car, which was a real shame. It was great to see the Cadillac Formula 1 Team bring its first car home.
“We’re up against incredible competition, who we have huge respect for, but I’ve got enormous belief in the team that we’re building here. This is a really good start to our journey.”
The start of the Cadillac journey
As to that journey, this is just the start of a long road for Cadillac. The team may be running with Ferrari power units this season but the plan is to use their own General Motors power unit in 2029.
But with so much work going into building a brand new Formula 1 team from the ground up, Lowdon has not set any public targets for this season as to what ‘success’ would look like for Cadillac.
“A new team coming into Formula 1 doesn’t happen very often, so there’s very little precedent for where things are,” he said earlier in the weekend.
“It’s very difficult to convey how difficult Formula 1 is other than to just keep repeating and saying it. It’s unbelievably competitive… We’re racing against the best in the world, and so just to get here, hopefully earn the respect of these teams, and then of course yes, over time we want to challenge them.
“You have to start somewhere, and I think the journey that we’ve been through as a team has been really positive.”