Cadillac looking to close the gap with first upgrade package at Miami GP

Cadillac will have the first upgrade package of its Formula 1 journey at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, which team principal Graeme Lowdon hopes will help reduce the team's gap to other midfield runners.

Along with Aston Martin, the American team has been adrift at the back of the field at the start of the 2026 season, a position it expected to be in as it tackles its first races in the sport. Following a gap of five weeks since the Japanese Grand Prix, there will be a number of new parts introduced in Miami, and Lowdon says the target is to make a bigger step forward than the existing teams.

"We've got a fairly substantial upgrade package,” Lowdon said. “It's spread over different parts of the car, so probably the main area is the floor, but there's also changes on front and rear brake drums, front wing as well, and lots of bits spread all over the car, and it's a mixture of aero and a bit of weight-saving.

“It's reasonably sizable, but of course the problem is we don't know what everyone else is doing, so the only thing that makes any difference is that relative delta. But we're reasonably hopeful.

“It's never ideal when you have a fairly substantial upgrade package and it's a Sprint weekend, because you don't really have an awful lot of time to analyze it, but there should be enough, and with a slightly longer FP1 session, we're reasonably hopeful. But we hope to tell you better tomorrow.”

Lowdon also says the team has managed to produce enough spare parts ahead of the Miami weekend, and that the effort should not be underestimated given how early in the team’s life it is.

“It's tight in some areas," he said. "There's lots of bits to this upgrade – it's not like a single thing where you made five of them and you can point at it. There's quite a lot of changes in various areas, which kind of reflects the fact that this is our fourth-ever grand prix.

“It struck me the other day that Ferrari have done 1,100 and whatever, and even Haas I think have done 200 and something as being a newer entrant on the grid; this is grand prix number four. So to bring a fairly substantial upgrade, I think, is really encouraging, because what you see at the track is the result of everything that's happening back in our multiple locations elsewhere.

“It's not just about getting a race team operating, it's about getting the manufacturing working, all the processes and procedures, everything from procurement through to in-house manufacture, all of these systems are all completely brand new.

“So we'll be watching the performance of the upgrade with great interest, because there's an awful lot that we need to verify that other teams will already be well down the route of doing.”