Sergio Perez praised Cadillac’s new factory after touring the base with teammate Valtteri Bottas, while Team Principal Graeme Budkowski used the visit to push back on speculation that the operation could soon relocate to the United States.
The American squad has predictably endured trial and error in its debut season in Formula 1, but has continuously improved as the season has progressed.
Despite that, the team opted to axe initial boss Graeme Lowdon and hire former Alpine executive Budkowski, in the hope of further upward trajectory.
Rumours have recently surfaced that the team is potentially plotting a further shift towards its US bases, and away from its Silverstone hub.
But upon visiting the latter, Perez could not speak highly enough of it, telling media, including Motorsport Week: “We were at the factory, and it’s very impressive. I’ve never seen a factory like this in my career. It’s really, really impressive.
“It was really nice to see it. We had talks with the engineers, with all the people involved in the project, the plans and stuff. It was nice to catch up with everyone.”
Asked what made the new base stand out, the former Red Bull driver pointed to the freshness of the operation from top to bottom.
“First of all, it’s because everything is new: the equipment they have, the platforms, how nicely it is connected, all the different departments,” he said. “It’s like a new home, very well organised. It was really good to see.”
Cadillac factory should quell ‘doubts’ of F1 intentions
Budkowski had not yet visited the Silverstone HQ when appointed Team Principal last month, but quickly sought to change that prior to his debut in the hot seat on its pit wall at Zandvoort.
And the Pole revealed that Bottas and Perez had been left with a strong impression of the factory, and framed it as proof that talk of an imminent relocation is wide of the mark.
“We just opened a new factory in Silverstone,” he said. “Anybody who has doubts that this is a temporary facility should come and visit because it’s quite impressive.
“We had Valtteri and Checo come in and have some technical meetings there and speak to the staff, and they were really impressed. So was I on the first day I walked in.
“We are effectively building some facilities in the US as well. We will progressively develop a footprint in the US, whether that’s through manufacturing capability or others.
“But at the moment, all the rumours that the team will move there shortly, et cetera, are totally unfounded. And again, anyone who has doubts about this should come and visit us in Silverstone because we’ve built a really impressive facility there.”
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