Speaking to media at the team’s UK base, Lowdon revealed it took 764 days from the beginning of the process to the official confirmation that Andretti would be permitted to join the grid in 2026.
“It was unbelievably thorough,” Lowdon said. “I got frustrated during that time because there were periods where it just looked as if it was going to take longer. But for me, it was really straightforward.
“You just go back to the basics of what is it that we’re bringing into Formula 1 and when you look at the value and proposition that’s coming in, there is just no way that it wasn’t going to happen. The problem was when.
“But I never doubted it once. Not once. Otherwise I would have sat on a beach somewhere.”
Cadillac’s entry into Formula 1 has been a contentious and high-profile topic, starting as a bid by former F1 racer Michael Andretti to establish a team under his iconic family name.
Andretti’s bid was rejected in early 2024 but was reignited when the effort gained backing from global automotive powerhouse General Motors later that year, ultimately being approved under the Cadillac banner in November.
The process, which Lowdon says previously took as little as 17 weeks, required extensive documentation and early-stage development work before approval was even granted.
“You can’t wait to actually get the approval, you have to take a risk if you’re going to race, because the entry process is specifically for entry in a certain championship year,” he explained. “If you just wait until you get the entry and then start doing everything that we’ve been doing, you time out, it becomes an impossible task.”
Lowdon said around 300 staff were already in place before the green light was given, despite no guarantee the effort would result in a race team.
“We wrote to every single person. Good old fashioned bits of paper with someone’s name on it with a note to say thanks because they made a commitment to join something.”
That sense of risk was ever-present throughout the process, with team leadership needing to hire talent, lease buildings, and commission components for a car they weren’t yet officially allowed to race.
“They could be leaving a very safe job,” Lowdon said. “And they’ll have families and they will have responsibilities in life. And we can’t attract somebody to something if we think that it’s not going to work.
“So that period is an unbelievably difficult balancing act.”
Lowdon acknowledged that the scale and complexity of the entry process was justified, given the nature of Formula 1, but argued it must remain achievable for other potential entrants.
“Building Formula 1 cars is not an easy job,” he said. “And therefore it’s quite right that the process should be rigorous.
“I think I think to get into the pinnacle of motorsport, you need to demonstrate that that is the case, but it has to be achievable.
“And I think for the sake of the fans, the grid should be full.”
The entry process may be behind them, but the challenge is far from over. With less than a year until the team’s planned debut in free practice, Cadillac is working at full speed to build its car, infrastructure, and workforce — which Lowdon says is currently around 67% complete.
Lowdon said that despite the pressure of building a new team from the ground up, he is relishing the opportunity to compete in what he considers the best team sport in the world.
“This is not a franchise sport, this is this is a true World Championship,” he said. “The best in the world meet and compete. The best teams. The best drivers. Formula One for me is the greatest team sport in the world.
“You’ve got a thousand players on each side, all in their place. My job is to get the best thousand players and make sure they’re in the right place on the pitch.”
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