MIAMI GARDENS — The vibe is unmistakable from the teams at the Miami International Autodrome to the fan fest in Miami Beach.
The Cadillac Formula One team’s American debut at the Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix this week has essentially been four years in the making – from General Motors executives testing the F1 “waters” to team principles learning the lay of the land to the hiring of thousands of new employees to bring it all together.
And this weekend, the two-car Cadillac team – officially approved for entry on the F1 grid 14 months ago – is prepared to make its first American grand prix start with experienced, winning drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
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“I remember walking out of the hotel wearing the Cadillac badge on a shirt, and just so many people came up to us on the street, you know saying they can’t wait to see the team and offering their support,’’ Cadillac Team Chief Graeme Lowdon said with a smile Thursday morning from the paddock inside Hard Rock Stadium.
“It’s very well documented what we’ve been through quite a lengthy entry process and you don’t necessarily think about how the team is going to get received. But when you get that validation, there are fans very clearly saying that they’re new to Formula One and that they are in because of Cadillac, that was really a great feeling.’’
Lowdon acknowledged that upgrades the series issued to teams for the Miami Grand Prix will be impactful. “It’s not just about getting a race team operating, it’s about getting the manufacturing working all the processes and procedures … all these systems are all completely brand new.’’
He noted the five-week break in the schedule between Miami and the last race in Japan – extra time due to the cancellations of grand prix races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia because of the war in Iran – has been positive and negative in terms of any early-season momentum the team has created.
In the team’s debut at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Perez finished a team-best 16th in the 22-car field. In the next race in China, the drivers earned impressive 13th (Bottas) and 15th (Perez) finishing positions. And Perez claimed the team’s first lead lap finish in Japan last month, finishing 17th.
“Our first time to race Cadillac F1 on American soil and it’s super special,’’ said Jim Campbell, Vice President for GM Performance and Motorsports, who’s on-site for the grand prix. “We’ve been looking forward to this day. We have been here the last three years really trying to learn about the F1 platform so to be here now racing is super exciting as opposed to observing.
“Racing is way better than observing,” he added with a smile.
Bottas said he has long been looking forward to this particular stop on the schedule. The former Mercedes driver is genuinely excited to be back at track and in particular to drive for an American team in an American grand prix.
“It’s good to be back racing,’’ Bottas said. “I’ve missed racing the last weeks but also having the first home soil race for Cadillac is something really special and we’re going to have great support here, no doubt. So it should be fun.”
All the obvious first-day-of-school type positivity aside, the team has done a remarkable job in turning in a stand-up effort right out of the box.
New technical regulations even field despite Mercedes’ success
New technical regulations for the entire grid have evened the playing field in many ways – even if the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Mercedes team is batting 1,000 out of the gate.
Mercedes’ George Russell won the season-opener in Australia and 19-year old Italian, Kimi Antonelli, answered his first career win at China with a second in Japan to claim the championship points lead by nine points over Russell entering the Miami race. He is threatening to become the youngest champion in the storied history of the sport.
Conversely, reigning series champion, McLaren’s Lando Norris – who claimed his first career grand prix win at Miami in 2024 – is fifth, 47 points behind Antonelli. His teammate, defending Miami race winner Oscar Piastri, is sixth, 51 points off Antonelli’s pace.
Four-time world champion and two-time Miami race winner, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, is ninth in the championship standings.
The upside in such a vastly re-positioned – some would say tenuous – championship situation has certainly helped allow Cadillac to be competitive in its first season even as a new team. Scoring points this weekend would be the ultimate boost of momentum – and it isn’t a long-shot.
On-track activity starts May 1 with opening practice. On May 2, the Sprint Race (noon) followed by grand prix qualifying with “lights out” for the Miami Grand Prix at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3.
“There’s an awful lot that we need to verify that other teams are already so well down the route of knowing so we’ll find out if the five-week break was good or bad,’’ Lowdown conceded.
“We’re racing against teams that have literally done thousands of grand prix, so if there is such a thing as team muscle memory about how you operate, the other teams have that advantage. Everything for us is new and we saw a really big operational improvement from Melbourne to Shanghai to Suzuki. You can see both in terms of qualifying pace and race pace we actually moved ahead of one team and narrowed the gap to another team.
“Pressure, in this instance, is healthy. We want to keep improving.”
Formula One Grand Prix of Miami
Sunday, May 3, 4 p.m.
Miami International Autodrome, Miami Gardens
TV: Apple TV
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cadillac Formula One team making American debut at Miami Grand Prix
Reporting by Holly Cain, Special to The Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
