F1 Explains: Cadillac's solid start - with Graeme Lowdon

0:00Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V and the legendary roar of the Escalade V, All engineered to thrill Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula 1 And our race-tested V-Series line-up at Cadillac.com

0:42The newest team in F1 is just three racers old Cadillac have outdone some far more established teams so far Their brand new car seems to be reliable Now they need to make it faster and they had the opportunity to do just that. A few weeks away from the track to do their homework, study their performance so far, work on upgrades and to answer your questions. Right here on F1 Explains.

1:16Hello everyone, welcome to the official F1 podcast where I, Christian Hugill, put your questions to the best people in the sport. F1 Explains at F1.com is the place to send your F1 wonderings, curiosities and queries. Emails are very welcome, so are voice notes. Usually, we and the rest of the F1 world are at the racetrack, but today, I'm at home. And the teams are too. Well, I say at home, they're at their factories. And Cadillac team principal, Graham Loudon, joins us from the team's UK base at Silverstone. Graham, welcome to F1 Explains. How is it being back at the factory at the moment? um it's it's it's great although it's quite funny that um a number of people have asked already what what i'm going to do with the the long holiday between uh between suzuka and uh and miami and of course it's far from a holiday for for us and um and any of the teams there's there's a huge amount of work going on we're certainly making use of the of the time the drivers are um as well the engineers are mechanics even but like anything you know we're just itching to get to miami and go racing again we'll dig into that in a moment actually graham but but just before we look at the break let's look at the season so far listen the car seems to be solid you've suffered fewer reliability problems than you know many other established teams how pleased are you with your first three races in this formula one adventure yeah really you know i think we have to be pleased you know in in motor racing you're never satisfied you always want more but i think we we We do have to be pleased.

2:48We've had five out of six car finishes in the three Grand Prix so far. And I think the fans can see as well that when there is a big regulation change, it does take a little while for everything to settle in. And it reflects just how difficult this game is. Formula One is the pinnacle of world motorsport. It's the greatest team game in the world. And it's also one of the most difficult sports you can do. I think people that we've put together have done an exceptional job in a really short space of time simply to be on the field of play, if you like. But that was never our target. Just turning up was never the objective.

3:27We want to be competitive. And I think we've demonstrated already that the team's performance is improving Grand Prix to Grand Prix. We've gone quicker in Shanghai than we did in Melbourne and we went quicker in Suzuka than we did in Shanghai. And so that's really the focus now for us as a team is to continue improvement in every area that we can. Well, congratulations on all you've achieved so far, Graham. It's been really brilliant following your progress so far. And we look forward to doing so across the rest of the season. Now, last week on this podcast, Graham, we had our resident strategist, Bernie Collins, on and we asked her this question.

4:03But we're going to start this week's episode by asking it again, basically, because we thought it would be a good opportunity to get an answer from someone who runs a team with the greatest of respect to the brilliant Bernie Collins. So this is an email from one of our listeners, Chantel. Chantel asks, with Bahrain and Saudi not happening in April, will the FIA and F1 let teams work more on the car to allow for changes and improvements? So as we mentioned, Graham, Bernie answered the question last week in that, yes, of course, you are allowed to make changes. You know, what is it you've been doing in this break?

4:34What is it you're going to do for the rest of the break in terms of analysis, upgrades? How are you utilising this time? Actually, I'm pretty sure all the teams would be the same as us, which is you already have quite a far-reaching plan for upgrades over multiple Grand Prix and multiple parts of the season, actually. And so that side of things probably hasn't changed that much. What we will have been able to do is optimise how we combine some of those upgrades. So certainly we had some plans already for Bahrain. We had some other plans for Saudi. We had some plans for Miami. And it's given us a chance to combine a number of those upgrades.

5:14I think the other thing for us as a new team as well is it's given us a chance to analyze the first three races. It sometimes strikes me. I don't know how many races, for example, Ferrari have done in their history. Someone will calculate it. But it's a lot. we've done three and so it's important it's important that we use I think this time to look back at those three and immediately say what can we do to improve what's within our control we can't control what's happening at other teams but we can control what's in within our sphere and so it's really important for us to to look back at those analyze things and just maximize what we can and everything that we're doing is just about constant improvement in every single area of the team we've got a lot of experience in the team you know we counted up a little while back that we had something like two and a half thousand years of formula one experience in the more senior managers within the team not an all one all in one person obviously um but less than you know less than 12 months of working together so this the break has given us a chance to um to review but also we want to keep momentum as well you know we felt a real progress Grand Prix to Grand Prix and it's really important for us to maintain that and I think that's another reason why we're just very, very keen to get to Miami and it's a home race for the team as well.

6:36To answer your question on Ferrari, Graham, I had a quick Google. Producer Chris had a quick Google. We've both come up with at least 1 ,100 race starts for Ferrari. So they are narrowly edging you there with your three. You are right with your assumption. They've got a narrow advantage on the race darts front. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, in terms of, you know, obviously Ferrari are a good partner of ours at the moment. And it's great to have that experience on board as well. And, you know, it's been fantastic for me to witness the Cadillac Formula One team, you know, go from being an idea on a sheet of paper to, you know, team competing in the highest level of motorsport in the world.

7:18And, you know, that's been a real honour and a privilege for me to be able to do that. Have there been moments where you've stood there, I don't know, for example, in the paddock in Australia and had those little moments? Because as you say, you have been with this project right from when it was just being talked about as a hypothetical. Have you had those moments where you sat on the pit and were being like, yeah, we did it, we're here? I have, yeah. And I consciously made the decision to do that because I didn't really do it the last time I brought a new team into Formula One, who was much more...

7:49Well, we just didn't, you know, just didn't even think of it, actually. Although, to be honest, I also did maybe 2010 Monaco on the grid. That was a bit of a sort of, we're okay, we're here. So this time I've made a conscious decision to do it. And I've talked to everyone in the team about it as well, about doing the same, because that was a learning for me from the previous time. And it only takes 30 seconds. You don't have to dwell on it or anything, but just capture the moment. What we're doing doesn't happen very often. In fact, it never happened. In reality, it never happened. You never get a chance to bring a huge automotive manufacturer in, start a brand new team, build factories on both sides of the Atlantic, hire some fantastic people, give them the resources and the opportunities to show the world what they can do.

8:33It just never happens. So I've encouraged everyone in the team to take that little 30 seconds. No more because we need a lot of time to focus on the job in hand. But just take that 30 seconds and just have a lot. I personally think what the team has done up to this point is exceptional. you know, it really is. And it's a testament to getting a lot of clever people into one place and giving them the resource that they need. We've always said we want this to be the team that everyone wants to join. Everyone's proud to be in and nobody wants to leave. And, you know, I think we're well on our way to doing that.

9:10Absolutely. And we'll just say for those newer to Formula One, Graeme, you have, as you say, got experience with bringing a new team into Formula One. Graeme ran the Manor team in F1 through its various guises from its entry as Virgin in 2010. until 2015 so Graham's got that experience with bringing you know a new entity into Formula One Graham just finally on the break I'm really interested in the sort of parallel between you you so often hear in Formula One it said the best way of learning is on track now obviously we've lost out on those two races of on track stuff but have you been able to find an advantage in having time away from the track and where is that parallel between time on track and actually a bit of extra homework time back at the factory it's it genuinely is a kind of two-edged sword because it does help in certain areas you can catch up in certain areas you know there's there's always things in every team where in the supply chain you know you need a little bit extra of time maybe to get some components that were going to be pretty tight uh caught up or you know there's always something um like that but the flip side is we were into a really good momentum in that we saw huge progress in the way we were operating in the first three Grand Prix and so the challenge for us is when we go to Miami we don't want it to feel like Grand Prix number one again you know in our massive history of three grand prix we we uh you know we want to build upon it so you know there are some challenges when you have the gap but the main thing is that as soon as it was clear you know from from formula one and from fia um that there was going to be this change to the calendar the main thing was that we we put in place a really clear plan what we're going to do in the time available and maximize everything because we won't get this pause again so maximize everything that we possibly can and and go to Miami you know in the best condition that we can as a as a team and and try and continue that that progression both operationally and and performance wise of course the tricky thing is we sit here and say well it's great you've got this opportunity to to go back to the factory to learn from those first three races to try and improve the car to try and keep that reliability up to try and bring in more pace but the tricky thing is in Formula One your 10 rivals have all got exactly the same it's not like you've got this extra time and everybody else doesn't.

11:40Yes that is the pesky thing about this sport is there's a whole load of other people who are who are very good at it as well you know we've said before we have huge respect for the other teams and know them very well and I think it is you know it's important to respect your competitors otherwise you know if you don't have respect for the you know we have huge respect for the championship that's the starting point personally I always I always have I think Formula One is it's super special it's really special it's such a hard game this and it's such a hard industry that if you don't have respect for you know for what you're competing in then I genuinely don't know why people would do it the downside with it being so competitive is, as you say, everyone has the same, everyone has that same advantage at the minute.

12:28They've all got a bit of a chance to regroup or sort some issues out or whatever. And, you know, but it's also one of the fundamental attractions of Formula One is just the competitive level is just insane. It's difficult to see other sports that have that level where you have all those teams because it is, you know, for me, it's the ultimate team game. It's the greatest team game in the world, but all the teams are on the pitch at the same time. And you've got a thousand players in every team. And, you know, you kind of got to get the best thousand players in the right place at the right time with the right resources.

13:05And that's what breeds this just absolutely intense, intense competition. But, you know, it's also part of the magic recipe that makes Formula One so, you know, so attractive to watch. But you talk about having respect for your fellow teams and respect for the series. It certainly has felt to me in the paddock so far that you've earned that respect from your competitors as well. And we talked about your start to the season. Out of six potential race finishes with your two drivers, you've got five. You know, Valtteri has finished as high as 13th. It seems like a really solid start where it seems to me that you've earned that respect.

13:42Do you feel that? I do. And it was our first day at an objective in respect of the competition. And I personally had a lot of very supportive messages from people in other teams, very senior levels. And that's nice. I've spoken quite a bit about how competitive Formula One is. And it is brutally competitive. but also there is a real respect between competitors and rightly so. We're all in the same sport together and I value that relationship and it's good when you get those messages. And it's a two-way thing as well. We show respect to the competition. I'm super lucky because a lot of the good comments that we've had are delivered to me as a team principal and so I've spent quite a bit of time talking to everybody in our team to pass on those messages as well, because the reality is I don't do this.

14:41It's all of the people in our team who do this. They're the ones who've designed the car and built the car and do the pit stops and go racing and do all the late nights and all nights. And it's great for me because everyone tells me how good the team's doing. So I kind of get all the upside and I made a real effort to pass that message on because I genuinely think that the job that our small band of people have done is really exceptional. Absolutely. We are going to put some of your questions to Graham Loudon in just a second on F1 Explains.

15:19Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V and the legendary roar of the Escalade V. All engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series line-up at Cadillac.com.

16:03Welcome back to F1 Explains. I'm Christian Hugill. We are with the Cadillac team principal, Graham Loudon. And Graham, are you up for some of our listeners' questions that they have put to you? Sure. Yeah, can't wait. Erica in Phoenix, Arizona, Andrew and Ryan and Matthew from Connecticut all want to know about logistics, especially interesting given that we're now not racing until Miami. They say moving all of the stuff for a race seems to be a huge undertaking. How do the teams decide which bit of their gear has to be sent by plane, boat or truck. As we say, Graham, a particularly interesting one given we're now going from Japan to Miami now.

16:40Yes, I think the logistics in Formula One is fascinating. It's beyond the science. It becomes a bit of an art form and there are different modes of transport as the questioners have rightly identified. So a lot of stuff goes by truck and sea and also air. So the truck side of things is fairly easy to define because that's primarily the European races. Those are races that are easier to access from most of the logistics bases for the team. And we are an American team, but we have a logistics establishment in Silverstone, so within Europe. So the European ones are truck-based. When it comes to all of the non-European races or flyway races, as we usually refer to them, then we use a mixture of air freight and sea freight.

17:30And what you see on the TV in terms of a lot of the infrastructure in the garages and everything, although it looks the same at every race, it's actually not. Most teams will have six or seven sets of sea freight, which leapfrog around the world. So a set that goes to Melbourne may then go off to Miami or somewhere like that. In general, the rule is if it's heavy and low cost, it'll go by sea. if it's light or expensive it'll go by air and when i say expensive i mean things like the race cars they'll be shipped by air but heavy heavier things like back of house garage boards and all of the paraphernalia that make up the equipment that's needed to for a team to operate that's heavy and we'll buy multiple sets so in our instance we have six six sets of sea freight and they're constantly just on ships leapfrogging around the world ensuring that when we turn up with the air freight which is like the icing on the cake if you like the team is there with all of the facilities it needs and it looks to the standard that you know that everyone's come to expect in in formula one and it's fascinating that everyone just never stops moving um our next question is from chris in brisbane in australia chris says my questions are related to the support members who aren't at the track during a race weekend what prompted me for this question was I was watching the F1 movie and there was a few scenes where the pit crew on the grid would radio to an off-site crew who were providing support data and recommendations for strategy how many people are usually completing this support what are their roles where are they likely based how do they communicate this to the on-site team and we particularly wanted to put this question to you because as you've just mentioned Cadillac do have team members at the racetrack of course but you've also got a base at Silverstone in the UK in Indianapolis in Indiana and in Charlotte North Carolina so you have got a truly global operation in Cadillac haven't you we have and we you know we've tried to design the team so that it it kind of doesn't matter where you are in the in the world if you're in the Cadillac Formula One team and then you can contribute to where we're racing so at present we operate with the facility that the question relates to is kind of what most teams refer to as a remote garage so we operate with two at the moment one is at the GM technical center in Charlotte and the other is at Silverstone typically we'll have maybe 25 or so 25 to 30 people at the at the facility in Silverstone and then 10 to 15 or so at the the GM technical center in Charlotte.

20:12When we do a schedule for the team, we have the time zone of all of these different facilities. And then, of course, you're racing in a third time zone as well. So it could be Melbourne or Singapore or wherever. I think everyone's body clock gets really messed about quite a bit because whatever time it is in Silverstone, it'll be a completely different time in the GM tech center. So while one group are having lunch, the other group are having breakfast. and all sorts. But to answer the question of what do these people do, typically it's additional engineering support. So they're monitoring things like brakes, suspension, reliability, all sorts of other things.

20:54And then also simulation. So we have, at present, we have our driver in the loop simulator, again, based at the GM Tech Center in Charlotte and North Carolina. And so the group there will also be working out what kind of program would be run overnight, I should say overnight, wherever the Grand Prix is. Could be the middle of the day in Charlotte. But they'll be working out what should we simulate between, for example, FP2 and FP3 or between QALY and the race or whatever on a normal non-sprint weekend. And we operate with all the same protocols as if somebody was at a race. They have the same headsets, they have the same intercom system.

21:35And it's really interesting for me because I sit on the pit wall during a race and I'm talking to people and I know their voice. I have no idea where they're sat. Could be in the US, could be at Silverson, they could be 20 yards away in the garage. But I love just hearing that symphony of everything, everybody working together as a team. That's why I said it's the greatest team game in the world. the pitch is very spread out you know i it's hearing little things like that that just really underline why i love this sport it's amazing isn't it that you're sat there on the pit wall at the canadian grand prix for example and you've got people talking to you from all over the world you don't know where they're coming from but they might as well be next year it's absolutely fascinating um hannah is in germany hannah's emailed f1 explains at f1.com hi hannah thanks for your question hannah says i would love to learn more about the differences between reserve drivers development drivers or test drivers are there any rules around those roles um now obviously with cadillac graham you guys have got the indycar race winner colton herter as your test driver he's also racing in formula 2 where he scored points in his first f2 weekend australia so well done to him and you've got joe granu as your reserve driver who's previously raced in f1 uh with the Sauber team, the Afro-Mare team.

22:54Graham, differences in their roles? Yeah, so there are differences to answer Hannah's question. And there's a number of differences to do with the task that each driver has. There are also regulatory differences as well. So if we start with race drivers, because that's kind of the most obvious, you know, the race drivers have to have a full super license. Reserve driver also has to have a full super license because they need to be in a position where they can step in for one of the two race drivers you know in the unfortunate circumstance that one of those drivers is isn't able to drive you know so perhaps they're ill for some reason or something like that but the reserve driver has to satisfy the requirements of a full super license to be able to do that test driver doesn't have to have a full super license they can play a role in developing the car so they could be heavily involved in the simulator program and other elements of contributing to the engineering side.

23:55In the Formula One regulations, each team needs to give the opportunity to a rookie driver to do free practice one sessions for a number of occasions. So this year would be four occasions. And so typically, if you look at our team, obviously the race drivers are not rookies and neither is our reserve driver either. But our test driver would qualify as a rookie. so we would have the opportunity to give Colton some Formula One experience, which in turn would add to the valuable feedback that he can contribute on the engineering side. And then, just to extend Hannah's question even further, we then have a roster of simulator drivers as well.

24:36Now, obviously, the race drivers, reserve drivers and test drivers also drive on our simulator, but we have additional drivers. drivers we have Pietro Fittipaldi and Simon Paginot who provide some really essential work on the simulator as well so you can see there's a real range of roles and locations and they all contribute to the overall objective of the team but they do so in different ways. Absolutely and Graham I know you're a very busy man so we've got you for just a couple more minutes. I wanted to ask this one final one from Jen in Surrey. Jen says love the podcast it's fascinating to learn more about this crazy and complex sport.

25:13I'm new to F1, so I greatly appreciate the insights you share and it's so well explained. That's very nice of you, Jen. Thank you. Jen says, my question is how are the team's colours decided? So in this case, why did Cadillac decide on their black and white colour scheme? I love a livery question, Graeme. I really do. Well, I'd love to say it's because I'm a Newcastle United fan, but I'm not sure I could get away with that. The colour scheme developed actually over some time. And what we wanted to really show was a kind of, you know, real aspirational side to how we treat the brand, actually. And we really like this stark combination of the black and the white.

25:55And it kind of reflects this combination of things that we need. You know, we need this true grit of the job that we've got in hand. There's a lot to do. We also want it to reflect the aspirations of the team going forward. And also we have in that palette, we also have silver as well. We don't use it very much, but we do use it to show that slight elevated approach, but without being kind of flashy or anything like that. But, you know, Cadillac is a premium brand. So there is, you know, there is a lot of thought. It's a great question from Jen, by the way. And it does reflect the fact that there's a huge amount of thought behind everything that we do, including the colors.

26:37And actually, we have a brand book which has got pages and pages on why the black, why the white, why the silver. And then there's some accent colours as well. But I won't bore you with the pages and pages. But it's very much to reflect, you know, the core values that we have in the team. You know, we have bold ambition. It is all one team. You know, we like to keep things simple, but with a real elevated approach. Yeah, and teams want to give themselves a sense of identity, don't they? I remember Zac Brown saying when he came into McLaren, he felt like that was missing. and he really pushed forward the bold papaya colour scheme.

27:09Obviously, Ferrari have always had the bold red that you associate with it. Teams just want to give themselves an identity, don't they, and decide how best to fit in with that. They do, you know, and for the gens new to Formula 1, but for the fans who've been around a long, long time, Grand Prix racing used to be done in national colours. Red actually used to be the national colour of the US and then it got kind of switched to Italy and the US adopted white. And that was another reason for us having white in our palette as well. So there's a bunch of history, it reflects Cadillac's 120 odd years of history and innovation.

27:49So there's a lot goes on behind what looks like a very simple choice of colours, but there's a lot behind it. But as a Newcastle United fan, Graham, you couldn't have possibly have gone with the red if for the red and white of Sunderland, that would have just not worked at all. I was secretly smiling to myself and somewhat delighted when I saw the final colour palette but it's definitely been driven by solid marketing reasons and not just my choice of football team and for our American listeners Newcastle United's big rivals are Sunderland who play in red and white just to we're going to have people all over the world baffle that Ash getting slightly niche football chat Graham which is something I'm guilty of yeah I should clarify that football means soccer yes as well the regular listeners to this podcast are used to my references on that by now graham graham this has been an utter joy um and and listen i'm a formula one fan first and foremost so for me as a fan of the sport seeing the team come in has just been fantastic so following your progress has been such an enjoyable part of 2026 so far look forward to that continuing and congratulations on all you've achieved so far graham we it's it's been great to watch and we really appreciate you taking the time to come on the podcast well thanks christian it's kind of for you to say And, you know, I'm a Formula One fan as well.

29:00And, you know, we said right from the start, as a new team, we want to contribute and give something more to the fans. All the best for your home race in Miami, Graham, that first home race. We look forward to catching up soon. Thanks, Christian. Thanks.

29:18Huge thanks to Graham and the team at Cadillac for taking the time to talk to us. Of course, they've got a few weeks away from the track, but it's always busy in Formula One. So we really, really appreciate it. I don't really emphasize, I just think Cadillac have done such an impressive job so far this season. It's one of F1 2026's most fascinating storylines to see how they continue to develop as they move through the season. And of course, future seasons. It's a long term project. We'll keep sending us questions. And don't be down heartened, by the way, if we haven't answered yours yet. We've got loads to get through.

29:50We appreciate and read every single one. And we're working on finding the best guests to answer them. A few shout outs to some recent emailers who are waiting to have their questions answered. Brandon from California. Basma from London. Liz from Chicago. Bart from Tennessee. Sean from Wisconsin. Deborah from Adelaide. And Tommy from Maryland. Thank you so much for all the questions. But just because we've got loads, it doesn't mean we want you to stop sending them. We're going to be right here all the way until the end of the season. so join them in our inbox f1explains at f1.com bonus points if you send a voice note i'm not entirely sure what you cash those bonus points in for but we've got time to work on it also just a reminder f1 beyond the grid has had some great guests recently including cadillac ceo dan taurus plus f1 academy champion dorian pan and the 1997 formula one world champion jack villeneuve check that out wherever you listen to your podcasts plus the latest episodes of f1 nation are on this feed too we're back with new episodes on f1 explains every friday so until then thanks so much for listening bye