By Mark Gero
In the United States, the world of Formula One Racing never was very popular. There were two teams that competed in the 1970’s, Penske and the UOP Shadow squads, but by the end of that decade, both teams left the sport. An attempt by the USF1 project went out the door in 2010, never to really get off the ground, making Formula One Management skeptical about the country’s involvement.
By 2026, a team from North Carolina called Haas had a different idea. Rather than starting a team from scratch, they decided to involve being a contractor from one of the most popular teams in the sport: Ferrari. This gave the team along with recently, Toyota Gazzo, the chance to be supplied with a very low budget yet stay in the sport.
Now, for next season, the chance of having an American team with a real American idea will come from not only the country’s involvement with Haas, but with Ford becoming a powertrain supplier to Red Bull Racing, and with another team from the same area of Detroit, Michigan in the United States that is the cross town rival of Ford.
Originally, the idea of having a full American squad came in the idea of Andretti F1, which was approved by the F.I.A. But Formula One itself did not welcome the idea, and rejected the bid, only for it to change and involve Cadillac, which would have been the engine supplier, but now is going to be a full works team thanks to Formula One’s approval, which will begin in 2029. But for now, the team will be supplied with the same Ferrari engines that Haas uses currently.
But Cadillac had to do what other teams that want to get into formula one will never do: Put up loads of money to enter the sport. Thanks to the company being owned by the General Motors Corporation, one of the top manufacturers of Automobiles in the world, TWC sport, and yes, even Andretti F1, $450 Million was put into the entry fee to begin next season, where new regulations will not just apply to Cadillac, but other teams as well.
So how will Cadillac do in its first season? Normally, a first-year team does not even finish a race at the beginning, but Cadillac believes that even if they get out of the last position, then they have achieved a goal which is better than expected. Haas themselves have been in the sport for nine years already, yet the team have finished no better than fifth in the constructor standings and have never been on the podium.
So, what can Cadillac do to better this? Already, instead of having two rookies on the squad, the team have selected former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and current Mercedes test driver Valtteri Bottas for their first season. Many believe that this is the right choice, due to the experience of both drivers. But the idea of having an American driver has also been decided, with Indy Car driver Colton Herta not only being the test and development driver, but will compete in formula two next season, to increase his chance of finally having a super license to enter F1 full time.
For the moment, Bottas cannot do Cadillac duties, because he still is employed with Mercedes until the end of the season. But Perez can, and at a recent American Baseball game where he threw out the first pitch, Perez felt that the team can improve at the start of the season.
“At the end, what is important to me is that especially after the last two years, is to enjoy myself”. Said Perez.
“This is the sport that has given me everything and more, so I want to go back to enjoying it. The last few years were very difficult, so I want to go back to a formula one that I enjoy and work with a team that has the same vision. I believe I found all that in Cadillac. I am very excited with this return.
The goal is to arrive ready as a team for the first race. If we achieve that, I believe the potential is immense. A year of formula one means a lot of races, we’ll evolve. In the meantime, we need to be a solid team. I’m sure we are going to surprise and that we can win points early in the season.”
For team manger Graeme Lowdon, there will be testing in another car before the final project is made. But Lowdon believes that the most important thing is that the actual car is ready at the start of the season.
We don’t have a previous car. The car isn’t actually important,” He said.
“We’re not looking to do this test to engineer something, which is what a lot of the other teams are looking to do at the minute.
We want the mechanics to get used to regain that muscle memory of working with a live car, it doesn’t have to be a Formula 1 car. It’s good if it is.
If a car reaches a certain age, it’s no longer a previous car, it becomes a historic car. So we could be doing some THC testing, or whatever.
The reality is, I wouldn’t get too hung up on whether it’s TPC, THC, whatever, or even whether it’s an F1 car.
What we want is an environment where the mechanics get used to each other, and learn everyone’s way of doing things.
Basically, we want to be in a position that, when we hit the tarmac in Melbourne, we don’t have people introducing themselves to each other and saying, ‘Oh, hello, nice to be in a new team’.
Everything’s got to be up to speed. So we have this programme called Race Ready, and it involves all sorts of simulations.
We have massive respect for the teams that we’re going to race against. They’re hugely skilled, hugely competitive. And, partly, the way of showing our respect is the amount of effort we’re trying to put in to make sure that we want to compete with them, and so that’s part of what we’re doing.”
And if all of this works out, then Cadillac will be a team that will catch the attention of not just Americans, but other nationalities too.
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