Cadillac's F1 targets for 2026 are more underwhelming than you think

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Cadillac F1

Cadillac's F1 targets for 2026 are more underwhelming than you think

Cadillac are about to take part in their first F1 season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 12 February 2026 23:00

Here’s a tightened, US-audience–friendly rewrite with American spelling and smoother flow, while keeping the same meaning:

Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss has doubled down on team principal Graeme Lowdon’s recent comments, reinforcing that expectations are deliberately low for the team’s debut season in Formula 1.

The American outfit will become the 11th team on the grid in 2026 and are preparing for their first year in the championship with an experienced driver pairing of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

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Cadillac will run Ferrari power units for its first two seasons in the sport, before switching to a full works partnership with fellow American manufacturer General Motors from 2028 — the point at which the team expects its long-term ambitions to truly come into focus.

Team principal Lowdon recently said that he had told Cadillac board members to expect the team to be running right at the back of the pack in 2026, despite having two drivers who have a combined 16 career grand prix victories.

"For me, points would be kind of an arbitrary target," Towriss told media during a promotional filming day for the team. "I want to look at beating teams, beating cars on track, and how many cars can we pass in year one in moving up the grid? That's really how we're thinking about it.

"Secondly, it's going to be the rate of development on this car as well. So we obviously have a long-term outlook for the team. And so that's the focus that we're going to have.

"I think focusing on points out of the gate would be both arbitrary and represent short-term thinking. And what we're looking at is being successful in the sport over the long term."

Who will be better in F1 2026, Cadillac or Audi?

While Cadillac have a hugely experienced driver lineup, Perez and Bottas are thought to be there with a view to the future, helping Cadillac to navigate their first season in the sport and develop their car.

Audi, meanwhile, have the ambition of being world champions by 2030, and will be looking to start that journey in 2026.

They are the other new name on the grid, but are incomparable to Cadillac because they took over an already established outfit in Sauber at the end of last year.

Sauber scored 70 points in 2025, and claimed a grand prix podium, with the core of that team staying the same during the transition to Audi, including team principal Jonathan Wheatley, technical director James Key and drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Audi will be hoping to be in the condensed midfield once more in 2026, scoring regular points, whereas Cadillac have had to hire over 500 staff members in the last year just to get themselves onto the F1 grid, so expect them to be very much at the back of the pack in 2026.

Sergio Perez Cadillac Valtteri Bottas Graeme Lowdon