Cadillac ‘way ahead of where we really should be’ after F1 debut

Cadillac has proven itself to be “way ahead of where we really should be” in terms of performance after finishing 16th in its debut race at the Australian Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez was three laps down on race winner George Russell but just a lap adrift of a Williams and an Alpine as Cadillac. Valtteri Bottas’ retirement after 15 laps meant only one car finished, but team principal Graeme Lowdon hopes to run more consistently in future races and believes the car performance has exceeded expectations given the team’s limitations.

“We need to work on reliability, that’s obvious, but we’re not alone with that,” Lowdon told SiriusXM. “And then we need to work on pace. On race pace, we’re not that far off racing a whole bunch of other teams, and so clearly that’s the next target – once we can get the reliability nailed down, I’m absolutely convinced we will of that – is start racing people on pace.

“It’s within touching distance. And I think in reality that’s more than we could ever expect, when you consider that this is a car that’s been designed entirely effectively on computers that haven’t been calibrated against a racetrack, wind tunnels that haven’t been calibrated against a car…

“It was against the rules for us to run a car last year of our own, so all in all I think when we analyze it from that point of view we’re kind of way ahead of where we really should be.”

Lowdon was full of praise for Cadillac’s efforts to simply get on the grid with both cars at the first race of new regulations, having started ahead of a Red Bull, Williams and Aston Martin, while McLaren and Audi suffered issues that prevented cars starting.

“The team have done a fantastic effort” he said. “This game’s not easy. It is the hardest team sport in the world, it’s the greatest team sport in the world, it’s so difficult and you could see some people didn’t even get to the start – that’s how difficult this game is.

“So it would have been great to get two cars home on our first ever grand prix for Cadillac Formula 1 Team, just purely and simply because we’re greedy and we always want more. But getting one home meant that we’ve now got a platform to build on and we get to go again next week, which I think is great, because we’re really getting into the stride now.

“To some extent it’s been such a long project and this day’s been coming for such a long time that the more I thought about it, the more I kind of realized that I didn’t really know what to expect.

“It’s such a big regulation change as well. And we said this a lot, we’ve got such a huge level of respect for the competition in this paddock, it’s a seriously difficult game, we’re up against the very best in the world, and so it’s not something that is easy to just walk into. We said a number of times before, if you go and beat another team that has been doing it a long time then can you imagine how they would feel?

“We know that we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but the most exciting thing for me is that I know that I’m in a team of people who are more than capable of doing this. All we need now is some time and I’m absolutely convinced that this is a team that’s going to move forward.”