As Motorsport.com reports, Cadillac is sitting through its maiden Formula 1 season without a single point to its name, yet Valtteri Bottas is convinced the new outfit's facilities have already surpassed those of his former team, Mercedes. When the Financial Times asked him if Cadillac's setup beats the Brackley base, Bottas offered a straightforward answer: "I would say so."
Bottas spent the years from 2017 to 2021 driving for Mercedes, claiming all 10 of his grand prix victories alongside Lewis Hamilton, meaning he knows that operation intimately. Now, he finds himself working out of Cadillac's Silverstone base, which sits just a short drive away.
Once you have issues, whether it's in practice or qualifying, that's when you can't improve. You're just trying to fix the issues instead of focusing on performance and making the car faster.
His team-mate Sergio Perez, who spent four seasons at the Red Bull team, was equally struck by what he saw behind the scenes. "We were at the factory, and it's very impressive," Perez said. "I've never seen a factory like this in my career. It's really, really impressive."
Perez highlighted the sheer novelty of the infrastructure as the standout feature. "First of all, it's because everything is new: the equipment they have, the platforms, how nicely it is connected, all the different departments. It's like a new home, very well organised. It was really good to see."
Cadillac's operational footprint spans multiple continents, with a recently completed manufacturing facility in Silverstone now up and running while construction pushes ahead on American installations. The team's American headquarters is rising in Fishers, Indiana, supported by powertrain operations based in North Carolina.
Seventeen races into the campaign, however, a shiny new factory has not translated into reliability, with Cadillac still searching for its first point and Bottas having retired from eight grands prix. Bottas does not sugarcoat the scoreboard, but points to internal growth instead: "We are definitely seeing an improvement somewhere every weekend. It's not necessarily in the results yet, but it's in how we operate as a team in different areas."
The Finn also shed light on why those steps forward have failed to materialise on track. "Once you have issues, whether it's in practice or qualifying, that's when you can't improve. You're just trying to fix the issues instead of focusing on performance and making the car faster."
