Loudon: We understand; the most arduous trials await us.

      At one time Graham Lowdon was the sporting director of the Marussia team; he later worked on other projects, which were also in one way or another related to motorsport — for example, he was Guanyu Zhou’s manager — but he now heads the new Cadillac F1 team.

      In an interview with the championship’s official website he spoke about how preparations are going for the debut of General Motors’ factory team in Formula 1. One important event took place recently: at the end of August its lineup was announced: in 2026 Cadillac will field experienced professionals Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez.

      Graham Lowdon: “Everyone understands that we have backed experience by choosing Valtteri and Sergio. When we told them, sparks of excitement flashed in each of their eyes, and that matters to me.

      Enthusiasm is one of the qualities we need right now, because if your team’s drivers have the right mindset, it benefits the effort. Right now we are building the team, and that means we must create a cohesive group.

      Of course, one of the advantages we will have in 2026 is that, unlike a normal year when only three days are allocated for testing, in 2026 there will first be tests in Barcelona and then two additional test sessions in Bahrain. We will get three times more test time, and that will help Valtteri and Sergio find pace…

      Drivers don’t need to know every secret of the car’s construction and everything else in detail, but I think it’s very valuable that Valtteri hasn’t been away from the paddock — he attends meetings with Mercedes engineers every weekend, so his technical preparation remains at a high level.

      As for Colton Herta, our reserve driver, I’ll start by saying that I really like the guy. Over the past two years I’ve gotten to know him quite well, and I like his approach — he’s a real racer.

      When someone moves from one championship where he was fighting for wins to another where he will take on the role of a test driver, some people may question such a driver’s reputation. But I like that Colton is confident in his ability to adapt quickly to such changes. That’s exactly what I want to see…

      He’s American, and although we’ve always said that people are chosen for our program strictly on merit, if any of them are from the USA that’s only a plus, because we’re an American team… In addition, we will arrange for him to compete in F2 to keep race fit. We are currently exploring different options for him in 2026, and of course one of them is Formula 2. Gaining experience in those races will be very useful.”

      The role of technical director at Cadillac F1 is held by the experienced Nick Chester, who spent a long time working at the Renault factory team; chief designer is John McWilliam, who previously worked with seven different Formula 1 teams, and Pat Symonds advises him on engineering matters.

      Lowdon jokes that by his rough estimate the combined service of the specialists working in the team amounts to roughly 2,500 years.

      “Work on building the car is on schedule, and that’s good news,” Lowdon continued. “At present we are working on the first two chassis that will be used in races. Some time ago we built a prototype chassis, and it was used to carry out exactly the same tests that the FIA conducts during homologation.

      The prototype chassis passed all those tests. We are probably the first team to have carried out such tests, since others have experience from previous years, but we wanted to be sure that the actual race chassis would also successfully pass homologation.”

      In the long term Cadillac F1 wants to build cars in America, but the team’s manufacturing base in Indiana is still under construction and will be commissioned next year. Therefore, in the early stages the team is working with various external suppliers, and the main work is being carried out at the base in Silverstone, UK.

      An in-house power unit produced by General Motors will not appear before 2029, so for now Cadillac F1 cars will run Ferrari engines and gearboxes. But the team intends to manufacture gearbox housings itself right away.

      At the beginning of January Cadillac plans to carry out the car’s initial shakedown at Silverstone, combined with a filming day.

      “Anyone who watches Formula 1 at home can download the detailed technical regulations from the internet, but that’s where the main problem lies,” Lowdon reflects. “There are 11 teams in the championship, there used to be ten, and all compete under the same set of technical rules. No one can invent a different kind of car. The regulations set very strict boundaries, so the competition becomes insanely intense; we must understand that…

      If a new team comes into the championship and immediately starts performing quite competitively, the teams that have been in the championship for a long time may become very upset and angry. In general, we understand that the toughest tests await us. It’s very difficult to determine what could be considered success in our case, but to begin with we simply have to do the job as well as possible and earn the respect of our rivals.

      I believe that should always be the primary task, and if we achieve it, it will mean that we are indeed doing a pretty good job.”