F1 fans tease Cadillac with the same message after confirming Colton Herta’s FP1 debut in Barcelona

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Formula 1 fans have been teasing Cadillac on social media for using the wrong circuit graphic when confirming that Colton Herta is set to make his FP1 debut in Barcelona.

Cadillac announced on Friday that Herta will join the F1 pack for the first time during FP1 at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. F1 will make its latest visit to Montmelo on June 12-14, but the race is no longer the Spanish Grand Prix as that will be held in Madrid in September.

Herta is serving as Cadillac’s F1 test driver this year alongside his rookie season in Formula 2 after failing to secure a race seat, as the American squad favoured Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez for their debut year. Herta also left his leading position in IndyCar to test himself in F2.

For Herta to be in contention for a possible F1 race seat in 2027, he has to earn a further six superlicence points in 2026. The American would be qualified for an FIA superlicence with a top-eight finish in the 2026 F2 standings, but he can earn further points with F1 FP1 outings.

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F1 fans tease Cadillac for using the wrong Barcelona track graphic to confirm Colton Herta’s FP1 debut

Herta has to complete at least 100km of on-track running during his debut F1 FP1 outing at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP for the Cadillac test driver to merit one additional superlicence point. A driver can also only hold up to 10 superlicence points from their FP1 appearances.

READ MORE: All to know about General Motors’ Cadillac F1 team from engine to drivers

A few F1 fans on social media have offered sarcastic concern in response to Cadillac’s news that Herta will make his FP1 debut in Barcelona, though. Fans have been quick to point out that Cadillac used a graphic showing the previous layout that F1 raced at from 2007 to 2020.

Formula 1 returned to using the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s fast, sweeping right-hand Turn 13 from 2021 in place of the chicane that the series had embraced to slow cars down. F1 has also used the wider, sweeping left-hand Turn 10 since 2021 instead of the tight turn.

Numerous fans on X noted Cadillac’s mistake in their post about Herta’s FP1 debut, with one noting: “It seems like he will go back in time to the old Barcelona layout. Cadillac developing time travel to get ahead of the competition is not something that I had in my bingo card.”

One fan also replied to Cadillac’s post, noting: “Why the old track map with the old Turn 10 and sector three chicane?” Another fan also claimed: “They even got it wrong in the track diagram! The chicane at the end of the track HAS BEEN ABOLISHED!”

An F1 fan on Reddit also shared that Cadillac had used the “old Barcelona layout” with a sad emoji, to reflect their displeasure at the American outfit’s basic mistake. Another F1 fan said on Reddit about Cadillac’s mistake: “I hope that’s not the one they’re using in the simulator.”

One fan on Reddit also simply said, “Still using the old circuit map graphic, I see”, which was a theme a number of F1 fans voiced. Their frustration with Cadillac’s basic mistake comes in the wake of the American squad failing to score a point across their first three rounds in F1.

Only Aston Martin have had a worse start to the 2026 F1 season than Cadillac, with the team from Silverstone struggling at the start of their new engine partnership with Honda. Cadillac edge Aston Martin in the standings as they have finished higher than their rival’s best result.

Fernando Alonso took Aston Martin’s only finish so far this year with his P18 in the Japanese Grand Prix, when Perez finished P17 and Bottas was P19. Perez also finished P16 in Australia and P15 in China, while Bottas did not finish in Melbourne but he was then P13 in Shanghai.