Graeme Lowdon thinks Cadillac have beaten all of their F1 rivals to do one thing before 2026

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Cadillac are currently in the midst of developing their 2025 F1 car ahead of the team’s debut in the sport next season, and team principal Graeme Lowdon believes that they have already beaten their rivals in one area.

The American constructor is the first new entry to the F1 grid since Haas joined the sport in 2016. They are yet to compete amongst the front-runners of the sport, in a testament to how difficult it is to succeed as a new team.

Cadillac have signed a deal with Ferrari to supply engines for them until 2028. The deal may also mean that Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will get some well-needed testing opportunities with the Scuderia in order to get to grips with the Italian power units.

With that aspect of their 2025 challenge sorted, Ted Kravitz believes Red Bull may suffer more than Cadillac in 2026 due to the fact that the Austrian constructor is developing their own engine completely in-house for the very first time.

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

Cadillac have already tested their 2026 chassis in line with the FIA’s regulations

Speaking to Formula 1 in a sit-down interview with Lawrence Barretto at the recent Italian Grand Prix, Lowdon was fielded a number of questions regarding the progression of Cadillac’s development ahead of the 2026 deadline.

The team principal issued a positive update, replying, “Well, the good news is that it’s coming along. It’s on schedule. We are currently laying up the first two race chassis.

“We built a prototype chassis some time ago, and we use that chassis to do all of the equivalent FIA homologation tests. There are some very onerous squeeze tests and also the rather dramatic impact tests, which is quite a significant test.

“So we’ve already built the prototype and went through all those tests. We’re probably the first team that has done that as well, because obviously the other teams have got learnings from their 2025 cars and 2024 cars.

“We wanted to do that to give ourselves confidence that when we’re building the race chassis, we’ve got a high degree of confidence that we should pass the homologation tests, but now we’re actually laying up the actual race chassis, and it’s on schedule.”

There were rumours within the F1 paddock earlier in the season that Cadillac may be strapped for time to pass the FIA’s crash tests. These rumours have now been put to bed with Lowdon’s comments.

The team are taking their entry into the sport extremely seriously. During last weekend’s Grand Prix at Monza, Cadillac staff at their bases in Silverstone and Charlotte virtually simulated the race in a way that included the team on the grid.

READ MORE: Everything we know about F1’s 2026 regulation changes from engines to tyres

Graeme Lowdon has set a date for Cadillac’s first F1 test

We won’t know the potential of Cadillac’s first F1 car until it is put on a circuit and clocked in some laps. Lowdon has confirmed the date on which we will finally get an idea of where the team will be expected to be competing once the new season kicks off next March.

“Yeah, so it’ll be early January,” the team principal confirmed. “We’ll do a promotional filming day, so the car will turn its wheels for the first time then, and that’ll be a great moment.

“We’re super proud to carry the Cadillac brand. These are going to be incredibly rare Cadillacs, handbuilt, very, very few of them. And I can’t wait to see them on track for the first time.”

As well as Red Bull’s struggles, Cadillac are also expected to be ahead of Audi during their first season in the sport following their rebrand of Sauber. Audi is also developing their first F1 engine in line with the FIA’s regulations, as it also joins the grid as an engine manufacturer.