Motor racing-Cadillac F1 team managing expectations with limitless ambition

The Star

9 hours ago

FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Miami Grand Prix - Miami International Autodrome, Miami, Florida, United States - May 4, 2025 Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon is seen ahead of the race REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) -Cadillac principal Graeme Lowdon says Formula One's newest team have limitless ambition, and plenty of funds, but every expectation of being last when they debut next season.
The General Motors brand secured approval in March, after a 764-day entry process, to become the sport's 11th team and are racing against time to be ready.
Testing starts in Barcelona on January 26, with free practice for the 2026 season-opener in Melbourne on March 6.
No drivers are signed yet, despite regular reports of familiar names set to join and the usual suspects in the frame, but the focus is on more fundamental issues.
A recent tour of the team's Silverstone facility revealed a quiet sense of purpose, and the deep pockets behind the operation.
"You will not see this team over-promising in any way," Lowdon told reporters.
"But we do want to convey the fact that the ambitions are really limitless, as they should be."
The team are also backed by TWG Global, whose CEO Mark Walter has an estimated net worth of $12.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Walter's ownership interests include MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, Premier League soccer side Chelsea and a soon to be acquired majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball franchise.
LONG ROAD
Despite that, there is a long road ahead for a team that will start with Ferrari engines but plan to make their own eventually.
Lowdon, whose U.S.-owned rivals Haas are in their 10th season, said he presents the situation to shareholders with a question: "Can you imagine if you've owned a Formula One team for 10 years and then another team rocks up and beats you? You would be apoplectic.
"You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last. Otherwise, what's gone wrong somewhere else? ... We're trying to be as competitive as we possibly can but We're realistic. We know how difficult it is.
"We're happy with our progress, but we just don't know.Other than if we beat someone then someone's going to be angry."
Cadillac reckon on having 600 people by next season, many recruited from rival teams, and say they are already two thirds of the way there and no longer even the smallest outfit.
Although approval came only in March, preparations started long before.
Wind tunnel work has been ongoing since the middle of last year and the first car floor was delivered in January. Roll hoop testing took place in May and a prototype steering wheel was also ready by then.
"We've already issued somewhere in the region of 6,000 drawings.We've made 10,000 components already while we've been kind of quiet," said Lowdon.
"If you just wait until you get the entry and then start doing everything that we've been doing, you time out. It becomes an impossible task."
Cadillac have sites on two continents -- a headquarters under construction in Indianapolis, manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Michigan and a design and logistics base at Silverstone.
Lowdon, a previous CEO of the defunct Virgin and Marussia teams, said a different management approach was needed and he had "leaned heavily" on the structure used by the U.S. space programme in the 1960s and 70s.
"We need an engineer here (in Britain) talking to an engineer in Charlotte and another one in Warren, Michigan, or eventually in Fishers (Indiana). So we've looked to have a very, very flat management structure," he said.
"It's highly modelled on the Apollo project ... OK, we're not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)