Cadillac believes the difficult lessons of its debut Formula 1 campaign could provide the foundations for a significant step forward with its 2027 F1 car. Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports, has taken stock of the American team’s first season and says the additional data, tools and experience now available are already creating greater confidence about what comes next.
Cadillac received confirmation of its Formula 1 entry only around 10 months before the 2026 cars were due to begin running. In that short period, the team had to build up a reasonable level of expertise both in assembling an organisation and designing a Formula 1 car from scratch. Once the season actually started, however, the scale of the challenge quickly became clear.
Cadillac’s difficult 2026 F1 reality became clear in Melbourne
“The expectations disappeared when the lights went out in Melbourne,” Dan Towriss told RACER. “It was that difficult. And I think, honestly, that was the thing that surprised me the most. I thought I might be able to count on a grace period while we refined a few things and built the team, and there was almost none of that.”
Cadillac entered Formula 1 as the championship’s newest operation, with Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas providing experience in the cockpit. The team’s early results have reflected the difficulty of creating a completely new organisation while simultaneously trying to compete against established rivals, with its drivers fighting towards the lower end of the 2026 Formula 1 standings.
Dan Towriss sees a crucial turning point for Cadillac
According to Dan Towriss, Cadillac has now reached an important stage in its development. The initial objective was simply to get the team and car onto the grid, but the focus is increasingly shifting towards creating an operation capable of functioning reliably and consistently across Formula 1’s long and demanding season.
“There are backup procedures: all the things you need to compete in this chaotic and long F1 season,” Dan Towriss explained. “So that is also a transition process. And as we look at that, you start thinking about the crucial next step. The process has to happen quickly and it has to happen well to really put us on the right path. It has been fantastic to get to this point, but now we need to understand whether the caterpillar turns into a butterfly.”
The hidden problems Cadillac faced while building an F1 team
Dan Towriss has also identified several areas where Cadillac has fallen behind. Some problems have been visible on race weekends, but many of the challenges have taken place away from public view as the organisation has continued to grow.
“There can be reliability problems, outsourced things that do not arrive on time and that puts pressure on everyone,” Dan Towriss said. “There can be one or two hires that do not work out as you expect. The culture changes every month because you are bringing new people in and constantly reviewing things going forward. And all of this is happening while you are trying to design the car and make it competitive.”
Cadillac’s preparations were already heavily focused on reliability before its debut, while its partnership with Ferrari also forms an important part of the project as the American manufacturer builds towards greater technical independence. Ferrari currently supplies the team’s power units, an arrangement that has given Cadillac a proven platform while it develops its wider infrastructure. ScuderiaFans has previously detailed why Cadillac is using Ferrari power units during its early Formula 1 seasons.
Dan Towriss continued: “Many problems were expected, others were not. And some of the ideas we had about how to organise the factory or the team are not completely suited to what we need, what we are building and where we are going. So I think there will be some changes along the way as we continue to refine things.”
Cadillac remains dissatisfied but not discouraged
Talk of changes does not mean Cadillac considers its Formula 1 entry a failure. Dan Towriss instead highlighted the progress made during an extraordinarily compressed build-up to the team’s first season.
“If I had been offered this start, I think I would have been satisfied with where we are,” Dan Towriss said. “And looking at the results of the season, there is no disappointment.”
There have nevertheless been opportunities Cadillac believes it could have converted into stronger results.
“There have been a few missed opportunities. But hindsight is always perfect,” Dan Towriss added. “And that is why we are here: because there is a relentless desire to compete, to be competitive, to build, to evolve and to grow. So if we are satisfied and somehow complacent, we do not belong in this environment. But I can assure you that we are not. We are dissatisfied but not discouraged, and we move forward.”
Sergio Pérez showed Cadillac’s potential in Monaco
Cadillac has frequently been among the slowest teams during its first season, but there have also been flashes of potential. The clearest example came in Monaco, where Sergio Pérez narrowly missed out on what would have been Cadillac’s historic first Formula 1 point after a post-race penalty removed the result.
Two races later, however, the picture was dramatically different. Serious brake-duct problems in Austria made it impossible for Cadillac to run for more than a handful of laps, underlining the extreme highs and lows a new Formula 1 team can experience while learning in such a competitive environment.
Why Cadillac has more confidence in its 2027 F1 car
Whether Cadillac makes major structural changes or continues a more gradual evolution behind the scenes, the team now possesses two things it could not simply purchase a year ago: time and experience. Those factors are already influencing work on the 2027 car.
“I think there is simply much more confidence,” Dan Towriss said when discussing Cadillac’s 2027 project.
“And the tools available are also very different. So what we have to build the ’27 car are tools we did not have, data we did not have in ’26 to build that car.”
Cadillac’s first season has provided practical information not only about its own car but also about Formula 1’s new technical era, from the chassis to the power units and the demands of operating through a full championship campaign.
“There is certainly a glimmer of excitement about what we have learned with the new set of regulations, the new chassis, the new power units and also simply about Formula 1 itself, so that we can be ready to make a big step forward in 2027,” Dan Towriss concluded.
The question for Cadillac is therefore no longer simply whether it can survive its first Formula 1 season. The next challenge is turning the experience gained in 2026 into a stronger, more mature and more competitive team when its second car reaches the grid in 2027.
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