Formula 1 News: 'No target' at least for first F1 season

(GMM) Cadillac will not be content with life as a Formula 1 midfielder, according to team boss Graeme Lowdon (pictured).

The 59-year-old is best known in F1 circles as the original Manor founder – whose journey in Formula 1 via Virgin and Marussia identities ultimately ended in ignominy and financial collapse.

But he is back in the paddock after the original Andretti project became the fully GM-backed Cadillac F1, which has finally been granted a confirmed team entry on the 2026 grid.

He told AFP news agency in Shanghai that Cadillac’s ambitions are “truly unlimited”.

But at the same time, he acknowledges that he will again be “confronted with the reality of a difficult sport”. Nonetheless, Lowdon is already overseeing a staff roster of some 300 people – about the same number as the Haas team.

“Those 300 people signed up before we even had our official entry on the grid,” Lowdon told the French news agency. “Now we need to keep building ourselves up. Right now it’s all about recruiting.”

Some might think developing the car for the all-new 2026 regulations should be the priority, and work is well underway on that. But Lowdon says Cadillac needs more brainpower.

“We’re going to build our first ever Formula 1 Cadillac and we’re going to compete with people who have built, in some cases, hundreds of cars,” he admitted. “How can we do that?

“We can’t be arrogant and say we have a data and experience base because we don’t. That’s why we’re focusing on people first.”

And so, at least for the first season, Cadillac is setting no “specific ambitions”.

“Our challenge is so much bigger than that of all our other competitors, but eventually our ambitions are truly limitless,” he explained. “And they have to be. “But we also have to be realistic. So, no targets,” said Lowdon

And while building the car and recruiting, Lowdon is also tasked with filling the two cockpits. But he seems the last concerned about this task, because there are “a lot” of drivers already on the list.

“I don’t want to name names, we just want to recruit very, very good people. We will recruit drivers on merit. And we simply want the best,” he said.

Andretti and Cadillac officials have said from the start that at least one cockpit will feature an American driver.

“As I said, we will hire on merit,” Lowdon insists. “And there is nothing stopping American pilots from being really good, and there are some very good ones out there.”