The debut of the eleventh team, Cadillac, on the Formula 1 grid is fast approaching, and the American racing team is therefore busy dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Cadillac is primarily using simulator work to develop their 2026 challenger. The team does not yet have a physical car from previous years to test with, but is now trying to acquire a car from engine supplier Ferrari to familiarize the mechanics with a real F1 car.
“We have looked at the tests that a team can perform according to the TPC rules (Testing of Previous Car regulation),” Cadillac team boss Graeme Lowdon tells Motorsport.com about the plan to borrow a Ferrari car. “We don’t have a previous car, but the title is also a bit misleading, because we don’t actually need to test a car. We are mainly interested in testing our current team of drivers and mechanics. And for that, we would like to use a car.”
However, there are concerns that Cadillac, by borrowing a Ferrari car, could gain insights into the Italian team’s operations. This could potentially give them an advantage over their competitors. “I think everyone is somewhat unjustifiably worried that we could somehow gain an advantage from testing someone else’s car or something similar,” Lowdon counters these concerns. “We’re not testing the car, we’re testing the people. Yes, we want to gain an advantage, but not based on the car. The advantage we want to gain is that our mechanics gain the same experience as all the mechanics in this pit lane who work with every car every day.”
Acclimatizing the Mechanics
The British team boss also explains the experience he hopes the mechanics will gain from potentially testing an old Ferrari car. “The mechanics need to get used to how exactly they work with an F1 car. For example, they need to be able to apply tire warmers, and experience how big such a car is. I’ve gone through this process so many times when setting up a team. It’s really important to simulate everything as accurately as possible and get as close to reality as possible.”
The FIA still needs to give permission, should Ferrari decide to indeed lend Cadillac a car. However, Lowdon has not only set his sights on the engine supplier of the American team. “We are a customer of Ferrari, so it’s a logical choice,” he acknowledges. “But as I said, we’re not trying to learn anything from the car itself. I really don’t care, as long as the car has roughly the right dimensions and shape. It’s only meant to simulate, so I don’t even care what color it is.”
