If you’re Cadillac and you’re about to enter Formula 1, there are two ways to announce it. You can slip out a press release at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday… or you can hijack the Super Bowl. Naturally, Cadillac chose the second option.
During a prime-time Super Bowl broadcast, Cadillac officially unveiled its 2026 Formula 1 livery, offering the world its first proper look at the American manufacturer’s F1 identity ahead of its long-awaited debut season. Loud, unapologetic, and very on-brand.
And the livery itself? It’s not trying to blend in. The Cadillac F1 car wears a bold two-tone black-and-white design, with each side of the car finished in a contrasting colour. One half dark, one half light — an asymmetric layout that looks less like a sponsorship collage and more like a deliberate design statement. Clean surfaces, minimal clutter, and restrained branding give the car a sharp, premium look that stands out precisely because it isn’t shouting at you. In other words, it looks like something Cadillac actually signed off on.
The Super Bowl reveal wasn’t the only public flex. Cadillac also displayed the car in Times Square, because if you’re going to launch a Formula 1 project, you may as well do it somewhere with more screens than a Formula 1 control room.
Behind the marketing theatre, the serious work has already started. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez recently completed an initial shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the car ran in a special test livery featuring the names of the project’s founding team members from both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Both drivers described the early running as productive — which in Formula 1 terms usually means “we found problems, but at least we know where they are.” Bottas highlighted the value of early mileage, while Perez noted that each run brought clearer direction as the team began to understand the car’s behaviour and setup priorities.
Cadillac’s Formula 1 operation will also feature Zhou Guanyu as reserve driver, with former IndyCar star Colton Herta taking on a testing role. Leading the project is Team Principal Graeme Lowdon, tasked with turning a high-profile launch into something that actually works when the lights go out.
Next up is pre-season testing in Bahrain, where Cadillac will line up alongside the rest of the grid for the first proper benchmark ahead of the 2026 season. That’s when the noise stops and the lap times start talking.
But as opening statements go, this one was crystal clear. Cadillac haven’t come to Formula 1 to quietly find their feet. They’ve come to be seen — and judging by that Super Bowl reveal, they’re very comfortable being right in the spotlight.
