As Cadillac races to first F1 season, insiders advise patience for U.S. fans

Cadillac became the first American automobile giant to enter the extremely competitive world of Formula 1 with a dedicated team. The famous American brand unveiled the official team livery for its inaugural 2026 season during the Super Bowl Sunday evening.

The Super Bowl commercial, which aired in the fourth quarter, shows the black and white livery. It borrows part of President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech in which he said: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult.” »

“This challenge is one we are prepared to take on…and one we intend to win,” the edited speech in the ad reads. The short film ended with the phrase: “THE MISSION BEGINS”.

Cadillac’s efforts are led by team principal Graeme Lowdon, who has built the team from the ground up, including a new facility in Indiana, home of Indycar; North Carolina, home of NASCAR; and Silverstone, England, birthplace of F1.

Speaking to CBS ahead of the livery reveal, Lowdon called the road to bringing Cadillac into the F1 game “long, with a lot of twists and turns.”

He recently said Cadillac had hired more than 500 people to join the new team, from a pool of some 143,000 applicants.

“There are a lot of expectations, and rightfully so,” Lowdon told CBS News. “General Motors is a hugely respected and impressive entity… so there is that pressure, but that’s Formula 1.”

On the track, the American brand will be represented by former Mercedes team driver Valtteri Bottas, originally from Finland, and former Mexican Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. Widely considered veterans of the sport, they have a total of 16 Grand Prix victories and more than 500 starts between them.

Having this level of experience behind the wheel, for an otherwise new team, was the main motivation behind signing these two drivers, according to Lowdon.

“These guys know how to win,” he said. “But above all, they have an ability to unite a team, so they are the focal point of engineering activities, garage activities, everything that concerns the functioning of a team at the highest level.”

A slow start in a fast sport?

Experts say American fans hoping Cadillac will have a successful debut season as it steps into the ring against longtime heavyweights such as Ferrari and Mercedes may be disappointed.

The chances of Cadillac winning an F1 race, or even finishing on the podium this season, are generally not considered very strong.

A winning Formula 1 car and a winning team behind it can take at least several seasons to develop and require constant investment.

Ross Brawn, the man widely recognized as the architect behind the German F1 sensation Michael SchumacherThe success of , told CBS News at the 2026 Autosport Awards in London that American fans might need a little patience.

“It’s very difficult,” Brawn said of the Cadillac team’s expectations this season. “They’ve got some really good people there. They’ve been smart in picking a lot of experienced people, but it’s going to be very difficult, so give them some time.”

David Croft, a prominent Formula 1 commentator for British channel Sky Sports, urged fans this year to seek development and not a place on the podium.

“Wherever they start, I hope that’s not where they end up,” he told CBS News at the 2026 Autosport Awards. “They have the drive and the determination, and they have the right people in place to eventually succeed in Formula 1, but it’s going to take a little while.”

The growing popularity of Formula 1 in the United States

According to ESPN, which has long held the rights to broadcast Formula 1 in the United States, 2025 was the biggest season yet in terms of average viewership for the sport, with 16 of the 24 races setting viewership records. The broadcaster said that over the past eight years, the average audience per Grand Prix has more than doubled, from 554,000 to 1.3 million in the United States.

Formula 1 is still a spectator racing sport in the United States, with overall audiences for the Nascar Cup Series, for example, averaging 3.2 million in 2025.

But insiders say the trajectory is undeniable and encouraging.

“There was a time when we went to Austin, to the United States Grand Prix, and no one knew what Formula 1 was once we got to passport control, let alone who we were,” Croft told CBS. “Now people know who we are and what Formula 1 is, what it represents.”

Many experts see the success of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series behind F1’s growing popularity in the United States.

Croft also credited the addition of two more races in the United States, in Miami and Las Vegas. In addition to races in Texas, Mexico, Canada and Brazil, a total of six F1 races are now taking place in U.S. time zones, making it easier for fans to follow the action live, he noted.

Lowdon hopes Cadillac can ride the wave of popularity and that fans will enjoy following the new team’s journey – even if it means settling for relatively modest “wins” at first.

“It’s really so hard to succeed that if you come and join the journey…then [fans] “I can enjoy, if you like, the minor victories along the way,” he said. “Just producing a car as complex as this is a minor victory in itself.”