01/07/2025 08:00
Graeme Lowdon believes his rival F1 team bosses will be
"apoplectic" next season if Cadillac finishes ahead of their
established organisations in the constructors' championship.
Following a two-year entry process after the FIA called for
expressions of interest for an 11th team in February 2023, F1
finally gave the green light in early March, leaving Cadillac
exactly 12 months to prepare for its debut in next year's
season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The initial entry launched by
Michael Andretti was rejected by F1. It was only when he stood down
as CEO of Andretti Global did the sport eventually approve the
GM-supported bid, in tandem with TWG Motorsports, overseen by Dan
Towriss. Throughout the bid process, the team hired staff and
sourced facilities, which at present are across four different
sites in Indiana, North Charlotte, Michigan, and Silverstone, the
latter comprising six units near Aston Martin's state-of-the-art
$250 million campus. Next year, the Silverstone site will focus on
housing the technical, production and logistics centres, along with
a machine shop. The complicated global structure, which also
includes Cadillac utilising Toyota's wind tunnel facility in
Cologne, means initial performance and progress will be hard to
come by. As such, the team's expectations for year one are low,
according to Lowdon, who was appointed team principal earlier this
year, stepping up from a consultancy role as he guided Andretti, in
particular, through the entry process, given his previous
experience in doing the same with Manor over a decade ago. "In
talking with our shareholders, we have discussions about what
expectations should be," said Lowdon, speaking to invited media,
including RacingNews365 . "The easiest way I can describe it to
them is to imagine if you own a Formula 1 team for 10 years, and
then another team rocks up and beats you. You would be apoplectic,
you would be so annoyed. "So you have to assume any new team coming
in is going to be last, otherwise something's gone wrong somewhere
else. And to a large extent, that's the only way you can set the
frame. "What are we trying to do? We're trying to be as competitive
as we possibly can, and we're realistic. We know how difficult it
is. You've seen the timelines. They're super, super, super short.
"We have no idea at the moment, like none whatsoever, as to where
we are. We can see the numbers. We're happy with our progress, but
we just don't know, other than if we beat someone, then someone's
going to be angry." Lowdon - Never in doubt Lowdon, who served as
chief executive of Manor/Marussia before its exit after just six
seasons, imparted a clear guideline on Andretti when he sat down
with the American motorsports guru at the start of the bid process
- quite simply, start building the team now. Lowdon knew it was a
major gamble he was asking of Andretti as there were no guarantees
the FIA and, in particular F1, would consent. But without putting
the foundations in place, any confirmed bid would be too far behind
the curve if it waited until the day its entry was confirmed.
Lowdon, however, was absolutely convinced Andretti, and ultimately
Cadillac, would be successful. Asked whether he thought the bid
would fail, and the team's advanced planning would come to nothing,
he replied: "Never! "I got frustrated because there were periods
when it looked as if it would take longer. But for me, it was
really straightforward. "You just go back to the basics of what you
know, what is it that we're bringing into Formula 1, and when you
look at the value proposition that's coming in, there was just no
way it wasn't going to happen. The problem was when. "But I never
doubted it, not once. Otherwise, I would have sat on a beach
somewhere."
