Cadillac hasn’t started a Formula 1 race yet – but the meter is allegedly already running at an eye-watering pace.
Unlike Audi, which took the "shortcut" by acquiring the Sauber’s existing infrastructure, General Motors and Dan Towriss’s TWG Global have built their F1 outfit from the dirt up.
But according to one F1 commentator, GM’s ambitious entry into the sport has already ballooned into a $1 billion project before a single competitive lap has been completed. And with the Australian Grand Prix looming, the scale – and strain – of the operation is coming into sharper focus.
A Billion Dollar Grid Slot
Motorsport pundit Will Buxton laid out the scale of the financial investment on the most recent Up To Speed podcast.
“Let's put a baseline on this right from the outset,” he said. “They have already spent - and they haven't even turned a wheel in anger yet - $1 billion.
"That is what they are believed to have spent up to this point. That's just to make it to the grid. And they don't have a title sponsor.
“So that is a huge undertaking not just for Cadillac and General Motors, for TWG, Dan Towriss, that whole group behind the scenes and launching this team. It's a massive financial undertaking."
©Cadillac
That figure – while not officially confirmed by Cadillac – underlines the sheer magnitude of the project.
Infrastructure stretches from Fishers, Indiana, to Charlotte, North Carolina, Warren, Michigan and Silverstone in the UK. Four hubs. Two continents. One start-up F1 team.
Ambitious? Absolutely. Optimised? That’s where questions begin.
Pressure Points and Growing Pains?
Buxton raised concerns about the structural complexity of the programme.
"Having three bases is potentially not an optimised strategy for any team, let alone a brand new team,” he said. "And you have two distinct issues, I think, with the way in which Cadillac, as an American team will fare.
“One is the American work culture, which is that there is no time off. You work, you keep working, you grind yourself into the ground. Family, what family? You work.
"But you've also got the F1 mentality, which is: don't like it, go do something else because we'll find somebody younger and cheaper who will do it - do the job that you don't want to do or you aren't willing to do.
"If you're based in the UK, you're working all the way through the day. You've then got to work through most of the night because America is still to wake up to that point.
“So, you're getting three hours' sleep and the season hasn't even started.
“I have heard from people I know who have moved over to this great new enterprise that the team is exhausted. They’re done. And the season hasn’t even started yet.”
Read also: Coulthard on why Bottas has the edge over Perez at CadillacIt’s worth noting that Buxton’s remarks – particularly regarding staff fatigue – are based on second-hand accounts and have not been independently verified. Cadillac itself has made no public suggestion of internal strain.
Still, the warning is provocative.
For a debutant team, the challenge is not just financial – it’s cultural, logistical and human. The Australian Grand Prix will mark Cadillac’s first true test under the F1 spotlight.
One billion dollars down. Twenty-four races to justify it.
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