Former Alpine Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer has warned that Cadillac’s operational structure is not geared towards winning a championship.
Following a prolonged and highly publicised entry process, General Motors, under its Cadillac brand, joined the F1 grid at the start of the 2026 season as the 11th team.
While the team opened a European facility in Silverstone to tap into the championship’s traditional talent pool, a large amount of its design and simulation work takes place in Indianapolis and South Carolina in the United States.
Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast alongside broadcaster Jake Humphrey, Szafnauer questioned how the team would realistically work with this set-up in the long term.
“I was with Pat Symonds [executive engineering consultant for Cadillac] on a flight recently, and Pat is working with or for Cadillac,” Szafnauer said.
“Cadillac is building a base in Indianapolis. And I said to Pat, ‘That’s suboptimal. If, for example, you have the same talent of drivers that Mercedes has and if Cadillac produces the same performant power unit that Mercedes has and you understand vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, the tyre as well as Mercedes do.
Sergio Perez, Cadillac
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“‘The only difference is you’ve got some of your design team based in Silverstone and your aero guys, some of your design team based in Indianapolis and your simulation team in South Carolina. It’s the only difference. Who’s going to win? Mercedes.'”
He added: “He said, ‘It’s only suboptimal if you want to win the world championship.’ So that’s my point. First, the objective. If the objective is to make it more of an American team, then yes, build in Indianapolis and in South Carolina. But if your objective is to win the world championship, then you do everything it takes to win the world championship. And that ain’t it.”
Since joining the F1 grid, Cadillac has worked to adapt to the championship while also battling against some reliability issues. It currently sits 11th in the constructors’ standings with zero points.
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