Cadillac CEO, Dan Towriss hits out at those believing the American team is destined to remain a backmarker.
If Audi has had a tough baptism spare a thought for Cadillac, for while the German team has risen from the ashes of Sauber, benefitting from the Swiss team’s decades of experience, its American rival has been built from scratch, albeit with the assistance of Ferrari.
Despite this being a new team, a young team, a stance/excuse that far more experienced rivals have claimed in the past, many feel the American outfit’s opening four races have been less than underwhelming.
Though both cars have made it to the flag on three occasions, Japan, where Sergio Perez finished 17th, marked the first time that either driver finished on the same lap as the race winner.
Qualifying has also been an issue, with neither driver yet to make it out of Q1.
Despite the assistance of Ferrari, and the backing of GM, which will ultimately provide the team’s own engine, some believe that Cadillac is destined to remain one of the sport’s perennial backmarkers.
“When you think about short, medium, and long-term goals, I think we’re on track,” Towriss tells F1.com. “I think we’re ahead of the short-term goals, but we want to make sure we’re on track with the medium-term goals. Certainly the long-term goals are quite ambitious in Formula 1,” he admits.
“If you think about it, there are so many work streams that are happening at the same time, from a real estate project to building a team to recruiting to building out all the pieces in the organization to tracking parts in a multicontinental effort with races all over the world,” he explains. “A lot of moving parts, and I’m really happy with how it’s all coming together.
“There are a lot of things we have in future plans,” he continues, “but everything is a process, it doesn’t happen overnight, especially when you’re starting from scratch. It takes time.
“We’re excited about those plans,” he adds, before admitting: “A lot of build-up and a lot of great feelings about getting to track and exceeding expectations, but that all evaporated once the lights went out in Melbourne. It’s so intensively competitive.
“Now it’s all about progress, progress, progress,” he insists. “There is not a moment to sit back and feel good about things. It’s all about: How do we get better? How do we grow this team and compete with more and more cars on track on a race weekend?”
Referring to the “backmarker” label, he says: “Just seeing the way the team fits in and the respect that we have earned in the paddock with the performance we have brought so far, I think we did exceed a lot of expectations.
“To those who said, ‘you’re a backmarker’, I’m saying you don’t know much about Formula 1. What this team has been able to achieve in such a short space of time is truly incredible.
“As everyone knows, it’s a really hard sport. It’s the pinnacle of motorsport. What we have been able to build is great. Now it’s just how do we take that and continue to build and make the learning curve and trajectory of progress as steep as possible.”