Cadillac has made its Formula 1 track debut with Sergio Perez aboard a Ferrari SF-23 at the Imola Circuit, ahead of the team’s debut campaign next year.
The American squad has already begun a raft of off-track preparations to ensure it is fully equipped and ready for its maiden outing in 2026 as F1’s 11th team.
With Ferrari providing power units and gearboxes to Cadillac prior to becoming a full Original Engine Manufacturer, it has also lent the use of its 2023 challenger for testing.
And with Valtteri Bottas still a contracted Mercedes reserve driver until the end of the season, Perez has been selected to pilot the black-out model in what is its first full test.
The car was first shaken down by Ferrari development brother Arthur Leclerc at the Scuderia’s Fiorano test track on Tuesday.
Ahead of last month’s Singapore Grand Prix, Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon explained the benefits of using the two-year-old car, which sufficiently comes under TPC rules.
“Actually, current team testing is kind of what we’re interested in. We want to use a car, because in all of the simulations that we mentioned, we try and make it as real to life as possible,” he told Autosport.
“I think everyone gets a little bit wrongly concerned, that in some way we can get an advantage by testing someone else’s car or something. But we’re not testing the car, we’re testing the people.
“Yes, we are looking to gain the advantage, but not from anything to do with the car. The advantages that we want is for our mechanics to have the same experience that all the mechanics in this pitlane are having every day working with each car.”
He added: “You have to get the mechanics used to that muscle memory of operating an F1 car. You have to be able to stick tyre blankets on, and then there’s just the size of a car and the heat that comes off one, and the presence that they have.”
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