Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon has praised the “strong team spirit” of the new squad following their early mileage at the Barcelona Shakedown, with the mood in the camp ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain slated as “really positive”.
While the event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya marked the first opportunity for all teams to run their new cars at length, it was a particular milestone for Cadillac ahead of the American outfit’s maiden campaign in F1 – one that they marked by including the names of the founding members of the team from both the United States and the UK into a special livery design.
Following the 2026 challenger’s initial running, Lowdon spoke positively of how the whole squad has come together.
“We’ve got a really strong team spirit,” the Briton explained. “Everyone’s energised, everyone’s up for this. Super proud for me and everyone in the team to carry the names of everybody in the team on the livery for this shakedown.
“That was something that we really wanted to do and we’ve just got a really good bunch of people who want to join the team, which is great, and it’s just a great team atmosphere at the moment.”
Reflecting further on the emotions during Cadillac’s first day at the shakedown, Lowdon said: “It is a big step, and it’s okay to allow ourselves a tiny bit of time to feel the emotion. But I think the overriding feeling is it feels like business as usual as a proper Formula 1 team, and we’re getting stuck into the same work that everybody else is.
“Huge, huge, huge respect to everybody in the team – I’m so lucky to be in this situation where I can work with so many really talented people, both here at the track, back at Silverstone, back in Indianapolis and in Charlotte as well, and it’s a great feeling to be kind of feeling as if we’re really on our way now.”
Lowdon went on to share his summary of the team’s mood when the shakedown came to an end, ahead of their next opportunity to run when pre-season testing begins in Bahrain on February 11-13, which will be followed by a second test across February 18-20.
“I think [the feeling is] one of excitement and encouragement as well – really happy with the ways things have gone,” he conceded. “We’ve steadily worked through all the usual niggles and the like that you find with a brand-new car, but also you have to remember it’s only the fourth day of this team running their Formula 1 car.
“But every day we’re getting more streamlined, the procedures are working well. People are working extremely well together, which I’m really, really happy about, so [I’m] encouraged. Still a lot of work to do, but that’s the same for all of the teams up the pit lane. I think we’ll be heading to Bahrain with a really positive feeling.”
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