In an announcement on the 7th of March 2025, American brand Cadillac announced that they would be joining the Formula One grid in 2026, but who are they?
A brief history
Cadillac is an American car manufacturer that is owned by General Motors (GM), a Detroit based company that is known for owning multiple Automobile brands. These brands include Chevrolet, GMC and Buick. In terms of total sales, it is continuously the biggest car manufacturer in the US and was the biggest in the world for 77 years before Toyota took the top spot in 2008.
Cadillac was founded in 1902 and was among the first car brands in the entire world. The brand was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French explorer who founded the city of Detroit. GM acquired Cadillac in 1909, with the brand becoming one of the most established luxury brands in the US.
They were one of the most prominent brands during the automotive boom in Detroit in the 1960s and 70s, before they followed suit with most American brands by making their cars smaller.
Today, Cadillac is still one of the most iconic automakers in the US. Some of their models are even used in the presidential motorcade, transporting the US president and the secret service.
Motorsports
When compared to European manufacturers such as Ferrari or McLaren, or even other carmakers in the US such as Ford, Cadillac has not had much success in motor racing, nor do they necessarily have a long history.
They joined NASCAR in the 1950s but had completed disappeared in the sport by the time the decade was out.
They’ve had more recent ventures into the American Le Mans Series (now known as IMSA) and the SCCA World Challenge (now known as GT World Challenge America) but experienced very limited success in their programmes.
In 2017 they made a serious return to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with the Cadillac DPi-V.R in the series’ top class, Daytona Prototype International (DPi). The car immediately wrote itself into the history books, with the three cars that entered the 2017 Daytona 24 Hours finishing first, second and sixth.
The No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing machine that won that race ended up winning the first five races of the season, including the historic 12 Hours of Sebring. That led them to the championship title, with the sister cars – No.31 and No.5 – finishing second and third.
The Cadillac DPi-V.R went on to win two more titles in 2018 and 2021, with four more wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The car was written into history as one of the most successful DPi cars in the history of the class.
In 2023, the DPi regulations were replaced by the new LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) and LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) regulations, better known as the Hypercar regulations. Cadillac created the V-Series.R (pictured above) to compete in these regulations in both the IMSA championship and the World Endurance Championship (WEC)
This new car with its fan-favourite thundering V8 engine won the IMSA championship in 2023 but hasn’t quite seen the success of its predecessor since then.
It achieved a best finish of third in the championship in 2024, and second in 2025 in IMSA, with four race wins. However, in the WEC the car has won only one race, this year’s 6 Hours of Brazil. Heading into the final round of the WEC, the No.12 Hertz Team Jota crew sit third in the standings but have a very limited chance of winning the World Championship.
Despite what many would consider to be a disappointing run for the car, there is still much more to come. The regulations have been extended into 2029, and likely will be extended again into the 2030’s, so the V-Series.R has plenty of time to rack up more trophies.
The Formula One programme
Since its announcement in March, Cadillac F1 have been slowly building up their team of engineers and other people within the programme. Graeme Lowdon has been chosen as the man to steer the ship as Team Principal, with Nick Chester leading the performance side of things as Chief Technical Officer.
After becoming the worst kept secret in the paddock over the Summer, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were announced as the 2026 drivers on the 26th of August. They will be joined in developing the car by test and reserve driver Colton Herta, as well as simulator drivers Pietro Fittipaldi, Simon Pagenaud and Irishman Charlie Eastwood.
Between those six drivers, there is oodles of experience in racing, with Bottas and Perez having 10+ years of F1 experience each, while Pagenaud and Herta bring IndyCar knowledge. Fittipaldi has spent years as a reserve for other F1 teams and Eastwood brings his experience in endurance racing to the table.
There is clearly no shortage of experience for the team to dive into. It will just be a matter of making the correct decisions to propel the car up towards the front of the grid.
Cadillac will make its Grand Prix debut on the 8th of March 2026, in Melbourne at the Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix.
