Mario Andretti has set Cadillac a huge target to complete before the end of this year’s Formula 1 World Championship – the team’s inaugural campaign.
The American squad is two races into its maiden season, a season already fraught with controversy due to the radical new ruleset.
Backed by a Ferrari PU and with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez at the wheel, the team is wading through its early teething problems.
Naturally, the Silverstone-based outfit is at the foot of the grid, but has been achieving highly, given its standing start in comparison to every team, including fellow newbies Audi.
But the unpredictable nature of the new season, given the regulations, means that improvement across the grid could mean spoils are up for grabs.
And Andretti, who has the honour of his name bearing the team’s first-ever chassis – the MAC-2026 – has given his early assessment of the team’s current position.
“We got through the first race and the second race was definitely a little bit better in China,” he told the Drive to Wynn podcast. “Both cars finishing, and even now, in the qualifying, respectively, instead of being four seconds [sic] off the pace, they were two seconds off the pace, which is a lot, but it’s an improvement.”
Cadillac needs to ‘think big’
Andretti is confident that Cadillac can progress significantly, and with the unpredictable nature of the sport, given the new regulations, believes there are spoils up for grabs.
“Well, obviously, you have to be realistic,” he said, “and as the season goes on, you want to feel that you’re definitely progressing.
“Let’s face it, toward the end of the season, you’d like to try to think that maybe you can start competing with the top 10 consistently, maybe even better. So you’ve got to think big.
“But honestly, I’ve always done that, even to the point of being ridiculed.
“But that’s the only way that you’re ultimately going to accomplish what is important, to be able to be a factor and start winning races.”
Points finishes for Andretti may be a little too overambitious, but with reliability less this year and with a decent power unit bolted into the car, the experienced team at Cadillac, with the wily old foxes Bottas and Perez at the wheel, anything is possible.
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