When Cadillac announced that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez would be their two drivers next season, as the team joins the Formula 1 grid, the move was generally accepted within the sport, given the experience both drivers bring to the table. With Cadillac building an F1 team from the ground up, having two drivers with their level of expertise would certainly aid the effort.
However, Team Principal Graeme Lowdon believes another trait both drivers offer will aid that effort even more.
“Obviously, it’s clear for everyone we’ve gone for experience with Valtteri and Checo. But when we told each driver, there was that spark of excitement as well and, for me, that’s what I look for,” said Lowdon in an interview with Lawrence Barretto.
“Then we look for their enthusiasm because if you have an enthusiastic driver line-up, that helps gel everything together. And that’s what we’re building now, it’s a team and teams are all about people and it’s bringing all those people together.”
Lowdon also believes that both Pérez and Bottas can get up to speed in short order, giving the team a chance to be competitive in 2026.
“I don’t think he will have forgotten how to drive, that’s for sure,” says Lowdon of Perez. “He’s doing a bit of karting and we’ll have him on the simulator quite soon. We’re going to do some testing in real world cars as well. So I’ve got no doubts that he’ll be back up to speed in time.
“With Valtteri, it’ll help a lot [that he’s been with Mercedes] because there’s a lot that is new in 2026 in terms of tyres and power units in particular. So having an experienced driver like Valtteri, who’s up to speed on that kind of thing is, is valuable,” added Lowdon.
“The drivers don’t get to see the in-depth design secrets and all the rest of it but I think it’s quite valuable to have a driver who hasn’t left the paddock, so each weekend he’ll be in all the engineering meetings, his mind staying sharp.”
Something that will also help both drivers is the incoming regulation change. F1 will implement sweeping technical regulation changes next year, both on the aerodynamic side and on the power unit side, and as a result there will be even more pre-season testing.
That gives Cadillac, and their two drivers, more chances to get it right.
“Obviously one of the advantages that we have in 2026 is unlike a normal championship year, where there’s only three days of testing, for 2026 there’s going to be an initial test in Barcelona and then two additional tests in Bahrain. We’ll have three times the amount of testing so that will help get them up to speed as well,” added Lowdon.
Still, Lowdon is wary of describing exactly what success will look like for F1’s newest team. Cadillac’s 2026 challenger is “on schedule” according to the boss, and the team simulated a race weekend during the Italian Grand Prix, with engineers from Silverstone to Charlotte working as if the team had both drivers rocketing around Monza.
But as Lowdon noted, the competition is “absolutely insance and intense” on the grid.
“The regulations are super tight and so the competition is absolutely insane and intense and we have to recognise that,” started Lowdon.
”I guess the way I try and communicate to other people is, imagine if you’re one of these existing teams, all of them have been doing this for at least 10 years, if not significantly longer.
“If a new team were to come in and immediately be competitive against them, then you’d be pretty upset and pretty angry. And so, we know it’s a huge challenge. It’s very difficult to quantify what success can look like other than we just have to execute as well as we possibly can and gain respect from the other competitors,” said the Cadillac boss.
“I think that’s always the first target because, if we do that, then we know that we will be doing a good job.”
