Cadillac has grow to be the primary American auto big to step into the fiercely aggressive world of Formulation One with a devoted staff. The storied U.S. model unveiled the official staff livery for its inaugural 2026 season through the Tremendous Bowl Sunday night time.
The Tremendous Bowl advert, which aired through the fourth quarter, exhibits the black and white livery. It options a part of President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech through which he stated, “We select to go to the moon on this decade and do the opposite issues, not as a result of they’re straightforward, however as a result of they’re onerous.”
“That problem is one which we’re prepared to simply accept … and one which we intend to win,” the edited speech stated within the advert. The quick function closed out with the phrase: “THE MISSION BEGINS.”
Whereas Ford has been current within the sport as an engine provider and proprietor of the U.Okay.-based Jaguar staff, that is the primary time an American auto big will race below its personal branding.
Main Cadillac’s effort is staff principal Graeme Lowdon, who’s constructed the staff from the bottom up, together with new services in Indiana, the house of Indycar; North Carolina, the house of NASCAR; and Silverstone, England, the house of F1.
Talking with CBS earlier than the livery reveal, Lowdon referred to as the street to get Cadillac into the F1 sport “prolonged, with a lot of twists and turns.”
He lately shared that Cadillac had employed greater than 500 folks to hitch the brand new staff, from a pool of some 143,000 candidates.
“There’s loads of expectation, and fairly rightly so,” Lowdon instructed CBS Information. “Common Motors is a massively revered and spectacular entity … so there’s that stress, however that is what Formulation One’s about.”
On the monitor, the American model shall be represented by former Mercedes staff driver Valtteri Bottas, initially from Finland, and Mexican former Purple Bull driver Sergio Perez. Extensively thought of to be veterans within the sport, they’ve a complete of 16 Grand Prix victories and greater than 500 race begins between them.
Cadillac Formulation 1 Workforce 
Having that stage of expertise behind the wheel, for an in any other case new staff, was the chief motivator behind signing these two drivers, based on Lowdon.
“These guys know the right way to win,” he stated. “However above all else, they’ve a capability to gel a staff collectively, so that they’re the focus for the engineering actions, the storage actions, all the things to do with working a staff on the highest stage.”
A sluggish begin in a quick sport?
Consultants say American followers hoping Cadillac will ship a blockbuster first season because it steps into the ring towards longtime heavyweights corresponding to Ferrari and Mercedes could also be disillusioned.
The percentages of Cadillac profitable an F1 race, and even ending on the rostrum this season, aren’t usually thought of very sturdy.
A profitable Formulation One automobile, and a profitable staff behind it, can take no less than a number of seasons to develop, and require constant funding.
Ross Brawn, the person extensively credited because the architect behind German F1 sensation Michael Schumacher‘s success, instructed CBS Information on the 2026 Autosport Awards in London that American followers might have some endurance.
CBS Information 
“It is very robust,” Brawn stated concerning the expectations for the Cadillac staff this season. “They have some excellent folks there. They’ve been smart in selecting loads of skilled folks, however it will be very robust, so give them a little bit of time.”
David Croft, a outstanding Formulation One commentator for Britain’s Sky Sports activities community, urged followers this 12 months to search for improvement, not podium placement.
“Wherever they begin the hope for me is that that is not the place they will end,” he instructed CBS Information on the 2026 Autosport Awards. “They have the drive and the willpower, and so they’ve acquired the appropriate folks in place to be a hit finally in Formulation One, however it will take a little bit of time.”
Formulation One’s rising reputation within the U.S.
Based on ESPN, which has lengthy held Formulation One broadcasting rights within the U.S., 2025 was the largest season up to now for common viewership for the game, with 16 of the 24 races setting viewership data. The broadcaster has stated that over the previous eight years, common viewership per Grand Prix greater than doubled, from 554,000 to 1.3 million within the U.S.
Formulation One continues to be dwarfed within the U.S. as a racing spectator sport, with total viewership for the Nascar Cup Sequence, for example, averaging 3.2 million in 2025.
However insiders say the trajectory is plain, and inspiring.
“There was a time we would go to Austin, the U.S. Grand Prix, and no one would know what Formulation One is once we acquired to passport management, not to mention who we had been,” Croft instructed CBS. “Now folks know who we’re and what Formulation One is, what it stands for.”
Many pundits see the success of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” collection behind F1’s rising reputation within the U.S.
Croft additionally credited the addition of two extra races in america, in Miami and Las Vegas. Alongside races in Texas, Mexico, Canada and Brazil, a complete of six F1 races now happen inside American time zones, making it simpler for followers to tune into the motion dwell, he famous.
Lowdon hopes Cadillac can experience the wave of recognition, and that followers will take pleasure in following the brand new staff’s journey – even when it means settling for comparatively small “wins” at first.
“It is actually so troublesome to realize success that, in case you come alongside and be part of the journey … then [fans] can take pleasure in, in case you like, the minor victories alongside the way in which,” he stated. “Even simply producing a automobile as complicated as it is a minor victory in itself.”
