"Every day is a school day," claims Lowdon as he reflects on Cadillac's maiden F1 season

Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon believes the American outfit is making steady progress during its inaugural Formula 1 campaign, even if that progress cannot yet be judged purely by championship positions or lap times.

Speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Lowdon reflected on the team's first half of the 2026 season, describing reliability improvements, operational execution and long-term development as the key measures of success for Formula 1's newest entrant.

Cadillac endured a frustrating run of reliability problems earlier in the season, culminating in a double retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, the team bounced back strongly at Silverstone, with both cars reaching the finish in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

Lowdon said that represented an important morale boost for the entire organisation: "It was great. Everyone's working extremely hard. Every team in this pit lane works incredibly hard, so it's not something that's unique to us."

He admitted the recent run of retirements had been particularly frustrating because the team had been forced into repeatedly chasing reliability issues.

"The team worked really hard and it was frustrating to have a string of events where we were chasing particular problems around a bit, and we didn't get a two-car finish in two or three races, and then obviously a double DNF in Austria, which you don't want."

Returning to full race finishes at Silverstone was therefore a welcome sign that Cadillac had regained some stability.

"Silverstone was nice to be back to what we'd experienced earlier in the season, finishing both cars in the Sprint race and both cars in the Grand Prix as well."

Asked to assess Cadillac's debut campaign as the season approaches its halfway point, Lowdon acknowledged that evaluating the performance of a brand-new Formula 1 team is far from straightforward:"It's difficult. There are no other new teams, so how do you actually measure something?"

Instead of comparing Cadillac directly with established rivals, Lowdon emphasised the scale of the challenge involved in entering Formula 1.

"The reality is Formula 1 is, I think, the most difficult team sport in the world. We have huge respect for the competition."

He added that Cadillac had entered the championship with ambitious long-term objectives, but also with an appreciation of how difficult success is to achieve.

"We, as a team, have entered the sport with a bold ambition for the future, and if you're going to do that, you enter the sport with humility and respect for the competition."

Lowdon stressed that building a successful Formula 1 team requires patience rather than expecting instant results.

"This isn't a sport you can just walk into and blow everyone away. It's one where you have to build foundations and build a high-performance environment for your team to be in, and that's exactly what we're focused on doing."

He also paid tribute to the people working across Cadillac's international operation.

"Everyone's worked so hard. I'll take this opportunity to say a massive thanks to everybody in the team, everyone in the US, in Indianapolis and in Charlotte, and also in Silverstone, and also at the wind tunnel in Cologne, in Germany. It really is a huge effort."

Rather than focusing solely on championship standings, Cadillac evaluates its own execution and operational improvements at every race weekend.

"It's difficult to measure the team's progress in terms of championship position or performance because, as I say, we're coming in completely from a standing start. What we do look at measuring is, each weekend, what's in our control, how well have we executed, what can we improve?"

For Lowdon, continuous learning remains the team's biggest objective: "Every day is a school day, and we're just looking to learn as much as we can, as quickly as we can. We have to do it in front of a few hundred million people as well, so we want to do it as professionally as we can."

Bottas contributing beyond the cockpit
Lowdon was also asked about Valtteri Bottas, whose adaptation to Cadillac's new car has at times appeared less straightforward than teammate Sergio Pérez's.

The Cadillac boss rejected the suggestion that Bottas has been struggling: "Honestly, I would not classify them as struggles."

Instead, he explained that both drivers have frequently been given different responsibilities as the team develops its first Formula 1 car.

"We're asking the drivers to do different things all the time. They're an integral part, both Valtteri and Checo, very much an integral part of the team."

According to Lowdon, their value extends well beyond race weekends thanks to the experience they have accumulated with multiple Formula 1 teams.

"One of the reasons why we wanted them in the team is their experience in multiple team environments. They know how important it is to build the engineering team up, to build the mechanics, designers, everybody."

He added that the two drivers are rarely carrying out identical programmes during race weekends, making direct comparisons difficult.

"I think it's fair to say that they're doing more than just driving the car, and it's rare that we're asking them to do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time."

Lowdon concluded by reiterating that Bottas remains a key contributor to Cadillac's long-term project.

"So, I wouldn't want to suggest that Valtteri's struggling in any way. I think he's playing his part at the very pinnacle of motorsport, and he's helping to drive the team forward."