Team story
Origins
Cadillac joined the 2026 grid as the eleventh team, adding a new name rather than replacing an existing one. The programme brings the American brand and General Motors together with an organisation that has a British base at Silverstone. Before any results came another distinctive decision: entrusting the first cars to Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, two drivers who had already won Grands Prix for other teams.
The Formula 1 journey
This first chapter belongs to a new team, but not to two newcomers behind the wheel. Pérez and Bottas returned to full-time seats with different responsibilities from those they had held at leading teams: helping an organisation take shape and bringing continuity to its work on track. Cadillac’s opening races need to be seen in that light, without turning the drivers’ experience into a promise of immediate results.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Cadillac
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Australian Grand Prix
Sergio Pérez · Australian Grand Prix 2026. The recorded position is P16; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Chinese Grand Prix
Valtteri Bottas · Chinese Grand Prix 2026. The recorded position is P13; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Spanish Grand Prix
Sergio Pérez · Spanish Grand Prix 2026. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the latest start in the archived snapshot, not the end of the team’s activities.
A distinctive way of racing
The connection with the United States does not make this a purely American operation. Silverstone is one of its bases, and Ferrari supplies the power unit used for its Formula 1 entry. General Motors has announced its own engine for 2029: a planned milestone, distinct from what the team uses today.
Cadillac therefore arrives first as a chassis constructor, while preparing a broader role in parallel.
What remains
A new team can also be understood through what it does not inherit. Bottas and Pérez’s victories elsewhere do not become Cadillac wins, just as a Ferrari engine does not turn the car into a Ferrari. The American name begins its own record in 2026.
Part of the interest in this debut is watching a newly arrived organisation establish its working habits, before a major result gives it a moment to remember.
