04/05/2025
NEWS STORY
General Motors President, Mark Reuss insists that automotive tariffs will not affect Cadillac's F1 entry next season.
The true global effect of the ongoing 'tariff war' has yet to be seen, but GM has already cut its profit forecast for the year, expecting a financial hit of around $5bn.
However, Reuss insists that this will not affect Cadillac's F1 programme.
"There's about $5bn of impact for us," he told reporters in Miami. "But it's not going to affect this project."
Meanwhile, as Cadillac released a teaser - which perfectly encapsulates the current state of F1, pulsating music, beautiful people, style without substance and merchandise - on social media, Team Chief Executive, Dan Towriss insists that the team hasn't signed any drivers, despite claims that an announcement is forthcoming.
{twittert=https://twitter.com/Cadillac_F1/status/1918850162509709602}
"The biggest thing is we're not in a hurry to select a driver," he said. "There's a lot that goes into selecting your pilot for Formula 1. And so we're taking our time."
While confirming that Cadillac is "committed to having an American driver" he was keen to make clear that this didn't necessarily apply to the team's debut season.
"It's not a gimmick to just grab somebody and drop them in the seat," he said, "because it's important to us that they're successful.
"We'll find the right way and the right time to bring the right driver into Formula 1," he added.
Meanwhile, team boss Graeme Lowdon admits that getting the team up and running, which includes increasing the headcount from around 350 to a thousand, is a tremendous challenge.
"We have on all of our facilities, on the wall of every office, a countdown clock which is showing the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds to the start of our first grand prix," he told Sky Sports. "We don't want to be in a position where there's some mad panic at the end.
"It's a really, really big task," he admitted. "The first race of next year we need to be on the grid. We can't turn up a week later and just say: 'Everyone else had the race last week, we'll have it this week.' That just won't wash."
With its HQ in Fishers in Indianapolis, the team will have facilities at Silverstone and the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina.
High-profile names that have been hired include John McQuilliam, who previously worked with Lowdon at Manor, ex-Williams aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson, Nick Chester, formerly with Renault and technical director, Peter Crolla (ex-Haas) as team manager, not forgetting Pat Symonds, who has worked with title-winners Benetton, Renault and Williams, as an engineering consultant.
"It's a huge, huge, huge testament to the owners," said Lowdon. "Throughout that whole time we were building a Formula One team but without certainty of an entry and that's a commitment."