It’s hard to believe that despite covering the automotive industry for the last 20 years, the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix marked my first experience attending the famed Montreal circuit in person. Perhaps it was kismet that this was also the case for my hosts; 2026 is Cadillac’s first year in Formula 1 and thus their first time at the Canadian Grand Prix as well. We’ve already gone into lengthy details as to why Cadillac has entered the world’s most-followed race series, but getting to spend time with the team at the track, in the garage, and in the extremely exclusive team Paddock Club shed some additional light on the immensely challenging (and expensive) enterprise.
Our experience started with an exciting night in the city: A Cadillac pop-up in the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, a drop-in on the exclusive Cadillac CELESTIQ event that our own SHARP team was co-hosting, and then dinner in the Four Seasons where Formula 1 fans and team managers mingled late into the night. It was a warm welcome, but where things really started getting interesting was as we arrived at the Canadian Grand Prix circuit itself. Every part of the Cadillac team — from Canadian PR through to the various Formula 1 team crew we crossed paths with — were filled with excitement and energy. Though some had prior experience with the racing series, the “shiny and new” nature of the beast was clearly infectious.
Always More To Learn
Even not being the most astute Formula 1 follower, once you’ve watched a few seasons it’s easy to think you’ve got a real grounding in how these races work. Massive crews in each garage manage every and all aspects of the cars, alongside a dedicated team that keeps eyes on strategy and driver performance. While all of that is true, our visit to the Cadillac garage revealed there’s far more to the equation than that.
First there’s the more obvious fact that every last nut, bolt, rubber, and bit of carbon is inventoried and accounted for. The FIA — Formula 1’s governing body — sets strict guides surrounding what can and can’t be used; this includes how many sets of tires and other miscellaneous spare bits can be burned through over the course of a race weekend. No huge surprises there. Where it gets far more interesting is on the data capture and analysis side. The number varies from team to team, but in the case of Cadillac, approximately 40 to 50 engineers and data analysts are at their terminals in the US and UK to monitor the live data coming from the cars of Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas during practice, qualifying, and race day. As required, they’re also sending their findings back to the team on track to help the on-site crew manage and adjust the cars as required throughout the race weekend. It’s a bafflingly complex undertaking happening in real time, but in a sport where every tenth of a second counts, this sort of “all hands on deck” approach makes a fair bit of sense.
Playing the Long Game
There’s no hiding the fact that Cadillac has not come out of the gates in their first year at the front of the pack; we all know this, but what’s important to note is that doesn’t really matter. In a sport that relies so heavily on strategy, it’s worth remembering that this strategic mindset isn’t limited to each race or even to a single season. The reason Cadillac brought in Pérez and Bottas is that they’re drivers with a wealth of experience racing with some of the top teams in modern Formula 1, and the best way to look at the 2026 season for the freshman team is that this is really an R&D year. While they’re not in points contention just yet, they’re also not running dead last, and with each race comes more knowledge, more data, and more feedback to improve their cars. You don’t just walk into F1 from zero and dominate. It takes time, effort, dedication, and some pretty heavy financial backing — as it stands Cadillac seems to have all those key components in hand.
In The Meantime
Regardless of start and finish positions for Pérez and Bottas, Cadillac is slowly and surely building its own cult following from the start. Having an American manufacturer enter Formula 1 is a big deal, and these are the days that we’ll all be looking back at a decade or more down the road, and ones I’ll certainly remember fondly, and ones I was thrilled to take a stab at capturing on 35mm film, shooting from a 50-plus year old camera. Watching Bottas shuffle around the garage ahead of qualifying, sipping his pre-race espresso; listening to Pérez talk about how the car’s feeling to an intimate and enthusiastic crowd in the paddock club; these are all moments in time that all become a part of a bigger story.
Feature photo by Justin Mastine-Frost.
