---
title: "Bottas and Cadillac Begin F1 Journey with Realistic Expectations After Barcelona Shakedown"
publishDate: 2026-02-04T17:02:15.585Z
lastUpdated: 2026-02-09T12:48:04.103Z
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Formula 1's newest team completed its first competitive running in Barcelona last week, marking a significant milestone for American motorsport despite facing considerable challenges as it prepares for its debut season.
Cadillac accumulated 164 laps across three days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, according to unofficial figures, placing the General Motors-backed operation ninth out of ten teams present at the shakedown test. While this represented the second-lowest lap count of the week, only ahead of the late-arriving Aston Martin, the achievement of fielding a car at all represents a remarkable accomplishment given the compressed timeline the team faced.
## Against the Clock
The scale of Cadillac's task becomes clear when considering the numbers. The team had just 323 days between receiving FIA approval to enter Formula 1 and the first day of testing in Barcelona. In that time, they needed to design, build, and validate an entirely new car while simultaneously establishing operational processes, hiring personnel, and integrating facilities across three locations in Silverstone, UK, Fishers, Indiana, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The team successfully fired up its Ferrari power unit for the first time in December and completed a full-car dyno test before conducting a brief shakedown at Silverstone on January 16. These preparatory steps allowed Cadillac to arrive in Barcelona ready to begin meaningful development work, even if the lap count ultimately fell short of more established competitors.
## Debugging Over Performance
Team Principal Graeme Lowdon emphasized that Barcelona was focused on validation rather than outright speed. "The target for this week was very much shakedown, ticking off various tests and things that are more to do with reliability, and ensuring that we have a stable platform," Lowdon explained. "Then Bahrain is much more of a focus on performance, actually trying to see how fast can we actually make the cars go."
Drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez shared the driving duties across the three days, with both encountering the typical issues expected of a brand-new operation running a completely new car. Bottas, who completed approximately 30 laps on the opening day alone, described the experience as a "problem-solving phase" for the team.
"It was cold. Early morning, it's quite hard to get the tyres to work here, as we know, but as the temperature picked up, things got a bit better," Bottas said. "We had some issues throughout the day. It's debugging, that's why we're here and it seems like every team had some issues."
## Experienced Leadership
Cadillac has bolstered its chances of navigating the steep learning curve by securing one of the most experienced driver pairings on the grid. Bottas and Perez bring a combined 527 Formula 1 starts and 16 race victories between them, providing invaluable knowledge as the team establishes its working practices.
The 10-time Grand Prix winner Bottas, who spent 2025 as Mercedes' reserve driver, acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge ahead while expressing pride in what the team has achieved. "I'm proud of everyone working so hard and being here with the car," he said. "But also, first takeaway is that we still have a long way to go. We still have lots of problems to solve and a bit of a mountain to climb, but we're getting there step by step. Each run, we're getting better and more together as a team."
## Performance Picture
In terms of outright pace, Bottas set Cadillac's fastest lap time of the test, finishing 4.572 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari benchmark. While this represents a significant gap, it's worth noting that lap times from the Barcelona shakedown offer limited insight into true competitive order, particularly for a team focused on systems validation rather than performance optimization.
Team principal Lowdon put the challenge in perspective, noting the organizational learning curve. "This is the pinnacle of world motorsport, you can't just wander into this and perform," he said. The team possesses approximately 2,500 years of cumulative Formula 1 experience at senior level across its workforce, but just 11 months of experience working together as a cohesive unit.
## Intensive Bahrain Preparation
The work doesn't stop with Barcelona's conclusion. Bottas revealed he would travel immediately from Spain to Cadillac's simulator facility in the United States to conduct correlation work using the data gathered during testing. "It's going to be busy between here and Bahrain for the whole team," Bottas explained. "I'm going actually pretty much straight from here to the simulator in the US, try to do some correlation work, try to prepare for Bahrain. As a team, we have now lots of data, finally, of the new car, so we have lots of analysis to do, maybe even build some new parts before Bahrain."
The team will have six additional days of testing in Bahrain across two three-day sessions on February 11-13 and February 18-20 before the season opener in Melbourne on March 8. These tests will provide a much clearer indication of where Cadillac stands competitively and whether the team can achieve its realistic goal of qualifying consistently and racing reliably in its debut campaign.
### The Road Ahead
For Cadillac, simply arriving at the grid represents success in itself. The team faces the same fundamental challenge that confronted Haas in 2016 when it became the last new entry to Formula 1: competing against organizations that have been refining their operations for decades, with established infrastructure, processes, and institutional knowledge.
The difference in 2026 is that every team on the grid is navigating new regulations simultaneously, potentially offering Cadillac a slightly more level playing field than it might otherwise have encountered. Whether the American operation can capitalize on this opportunity will become clearer over the coming weeks as testing continues and the season approaches.
What's certain is that Cadillac has cleared its first major hurdle by getting a functioning car on track within an extremely tight timeframe. The mountain may be steep, but at least they've started the climb.