Cadillac will make use of a rival team’s car to secure enough testing miles as possible prior to its maiden Formula 1 season next year.
The American automotive powerhouse will enter the world of F1 next season as its 11th team, having confirmed Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez as its drivers.
Cadillac will of course be unable to utilise any TPC [Testing of Previous Cars] miles as it is a brand-new team, but one of its competitors will be providing a car for this.
Whilst the team in question has not been named, the likelihood is that it will be Ferrari, given the Italian giants’ status as its engine supplier.
There is a huge necessity for the on-track fundamentals to be got right as the Silverstone-based squad puts the finishing touches on its own 2026 challenger.
When asked about its plans for testing, Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon told The Race that race-style preparations are already underway.
“We don’t have a TPC car or a current car that we can operate, but we are already simulating race events,” he said.
“The next one that we’re doing is Monza, and we simulate it as if it is a complete race, from start to finish with full integration of everybody in the team from Thursday all the way through to Sunday.
“We’ve got a very clear plan in our build-up to Melbourne next year and it doesn’t involve just simulating races, which is really, really important.
“The last one we simulated, we probably had 50 or 60 engineering people fully involved over the whole weekend, both in the UK and the US, all getting used to working with each other.”
Cadillac has a ‘huge amount of enthusiasm’ in 2026 preparations
Lowdon added that much of the testing will be done to enable the team’s personnel to gain experience ahead of the opening round in Melbourne, reasoning that they won’t be “in a position where people are hearing voices for the first time, or working with each other for the first time, or anything else like that.”
“And we’ll be introducing car testing as well this year,” he continued.
“Obviously, we have to work with others to be able to do that, but there’s that’s perfectly allowable under the regulations.
“We just have a plan to steadily build up so that when we get to Melbourne, we hit the ground running, and the drivers themselves play such an important part in it.
“And the one thing I can tell you, just spending time with them is, I don’t want to put words in their mouths, but there’s a huge amount of enthusiasm to get going.”
READ MORE – Cadillac signs Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez for maiden F1 season
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