Cadillac’s F1 Debut: Why the Team Will Test in a Rival’s Car Before the Big Day

Cadillac’s arrival in Formula 1 feels like the start of a new era. The American brand will enter the grid in 2026 as the latest manufacturer of the sport. However, prior to the team putting its own cars on the grid, it intends to get on the track this year with a car provided by another team. This sounds strange initially, yet it makes a great deal of sense once the rules and the build timeline are considered carefully.

Short term fix, long term plan

New teams cannot simply turn up, with a complete programme and be immediately competitive. Cadillac received the green light to get into F1 and has developed a massive operation in the US and the UK, yet to come up with two race-ready cars and a whole race organisation simultaneously is immense. The team will not yet have its own car on-track until the official pre-season tests in January, and therefore the borrowed older car provides actual track miles now and not just simulator time. Graeme Lowdon, the team principal at Cadillac has stated that the objective is to operate a Testing of Previous Cars programme to familiarize engineers, strategists and drivers with working together in the conditions of a real event.

What the rule of Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) really permits them to do.

F1 enables a newcomer to operate a TPC programme, which enables a maximum number of days in a machine of at least 2 years old. That is reasonable on paper: the teams can legally and safely test a known car to develop working muscle without affecting the competitive field. In the case of Cadillac, the TPC alternative implies that the team would have an opportunity to get Perez and other employees some actual time in an F1 cockpit this year and work through complete race-weekend procedures with real pit stops and real telemetry. Such experience is much more useful than unlimited simulator laps on the day of the race.

Ferrari is practical sense as the probable partner.

It has been reported that Cadillac will most probably use a Ferrari-supplied car to run these tests. Ferrari had already settled a technical partnership to provide Cadillac with power units and gearboxes on the team side, and it would therefore be a rational fit to run older Ferrari chassis under licensing and integration provisions. To top this, Cadillac will be a Ferrari-powered customer team in the short term as GM constructs its own power unit operation to become a supplier in 2029. That technical connection minimizes the hassles of preparing a package of someone else to run.

Why on-track testing matters more than many realise

Simulators are really good, but they cannot imitate everything. On-track runs place demands on the pit crew, the race engineers and even the hospitality and logistics teams that a simulator will never. The teams are trained to work in real weather conditions and how to heat tyres, radio chains under pressure and choreography of a perfect pit-stop. The idea of Cadillac to recreate entire race weekends in the factory is beneficial, yet testing an actual F1 car undergoes invaluable, practical lessons that are transferred directly into the preparation of the season. Lowdon has stressed the need to familiarize everyone with the idea of working on Thursday till Sunday and that muscle memory counts.

What it implies to Perez and Bottas.

Experience and race craft provided by Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will reduce the learning curve of Cadillac. Perez, who has not raced since the close of the previous season, can use on-track time to regain race sharpness. Bottas will remain with Mercedes as a reserve driver through the remainder of the year, so Perez will probably do much of the early seat time in any car he borrows. The fact that the TPC testing is available twice makes it that much more important to construct driver-to-engineer relationships prior to the winter.

Testing risks and limits with other team car.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to borrowing an older car. Information on an opposing chassis will not fit perfectly onto the Cadillac design. Aerodynamic load, suspension geometry and cooling packaging varies with each car. That implies that the engineers should be meticulous when converting lap data into their design updates. The number of running under TPC rules remains also restricted. The team ought to use this as a learning exercise into race operations, driver processes, rather than a short cut to bridging performance gaps.

Bigger picture: smart strategy or bandaid?

On the whole, it appears to be practical thinking and not panic. Cadillac would not like to make newbie mistakes during race weekend. Establishing team routines, verifying radio calls, drilling pit stops and familiarizing drivers with an F1 environment all reduce the chance of mayhem when the lights go out in Melbourne. The leased vehicle will not conceal underlying design or performance issues in 2026, but it allows the organisation to hit the ground running. As GM already intends to roll out its own power unit in 2029, the early tests are both a short game and a long game.

Final word

It may appear that running an older car of a rival is pragmatic, but it can appear awkward. Cadillac must be in the field of race operations and driver techniques. Those are the same benefits that the TPC runs provide as the team completes its own chassis and powertrain preparation. By 2026, two Cadillac cars will be in the grid. Until this point, leasing someone else equipment provides the American project with the breathing room to prepare to race on day.