Cadillac keeps bold F1 target despite rough start

Cadillac closed the first half of its debut Formula 1 season with a double retirement in Hungary, but team principal Graeme Lowdon insisted the struggling newcomer has not backed away from its long-term ambitions.

After 11 weekends, Cadillac remains rooted near the back of the field and battling reliability as much as outright pace. Lowdon told RacingNews365 that the first half of the team’s first season has been “a big challenge” but also “a very rewarding challenge,” adding that giving up is “absolutely not on the table.”

The results show how steep the task has been for Formula 1’s new 11th team. No Cadillac has made it beyond Q1 so far, its best qualifying result has been 17th on the grid, and its best outright lap time was only good enough for 18th before penalties for rivals changed the order. In races, its best finish across the first half of the season was 13th.

Reliability has made the picture worse. Cadillac signed off before the summer break with both cars retiring in Hungary, and Lowdon said the team has also endured a run of non-finishes in six of the last seven grands prix. Across both cars, the first half of the season brought nine retirements from 22 starts.

Lowdon argued those numbers need to be judged against the scale of building a team from scratch in a championship where every weakness is exposed immediately. “F1 is the greatest team game in the world,” he said. “All of the teams are on the field of play at exactly the same time, so you are measured against the very, very best in the world.” He pointed to Hungary qualifying, where Cadillac was “just a couple of tenths off Williams,” despite racing against rivals with far deeper experience.

That is why Cadillac is framing 2026 less as a results-driven campaign than a construction phase. “We don't just want to be here to make up the numbers,” Lowdon said. “You can't fire a cannon from a canoe, you have to build foundations. You have to build strong foundations, and that's really what we're doing at the moment.”

For Cadillac, the immediate concern is still turning that foundation into a car and operation capable of finishing consistently and moving off the back row, because its first half has shown that bold ambition alone will not lift it up the grid.