Cadillac sits last in the constructors' standings at the summer break, a single point adrift of Aston Martin and the only team on the 2026 grid yet to score. Ask three of the people responsible how the debut campaign has gone and you get three answers that barely overlap.
Graeme Lowdon's version is about the next ten years, not the last eleven races. The team principal told RacingNews365 that Cadillac's pitch to prospective hires is the scale of the job itself.
"I hope that we've demonstrated that it's a team with bold ambition. We do want to constantly improve. I think that's attractive to good people," he said. "The challenge is there for everyone to see. That's clear, and I think there are a lot of people who find that very appealing as well, to be part of something fresh and take on a big challenge."
It has worked at least once already: Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan has joined the American operation. Lowdon set out the internal target in words he credited to one of his own managers.
"We want to make this the team that everybody wants to join, everyone's proud to be a part of, and nobody wants to leave," Lowdon said. "If we can achieve that, then we'll attract the very best people, build the very best team, and hopefully the results will follow."
Sergio Perez is not talking about a decade. Cadillac has brought upgrade after upgrade since its first big aerodynamic package landed in Miami, and the six-time grand prix winner argues almost none of it has stuck.
"It's been very difficult for us to develop. I think we haven't developed basically enough," Perez said. "So we obviously have to rethink all our processes to make sure that we are able to develop a lot stronger, because in Formula 1 it's all about developing, and I think it's what we are lacking a bit."
Asked to be specific, he described an absence rather than a flaw. "I think at the moment we don't have a clear process in place," he said. Established rivals, by contrast, have "a very clear line how to do things backwards and forwards."
Some of that is structural. Cadillac buys its power unit and gearbox from Ferrari, which leaves a chunk of its performance outside its own control. "There is a little bit of inefficiency and obviously a lack of development because a lot of it is done through third parties," Perez said. "So we don't control much of it."
Valtteri Bottas is somewhere else entirely. The Finn's 13th place in Shanghai remains the team's best finish, and after a year on the Mercedes sidelines he is measuring the season against himself.
"In the beginning of the year, we had quite a few issues with the car, consistency of the parts. Sometimes I felt a little bit lost on finding why I'm lacking pace, but then we eventually always found answers," he told GPblog at the Hungaroring. "Now, the last couple of events, I've gained a lot more confidence with the car. [...] Finally, I feel like I'm on the level that I should be driving."
He added the caveat himself: "There's been lots of problem solving, lots of debugging, and for sure there's still a mountain of work to do."
The common ground is thin but real. Cadillac was widely tipped to be nailed to the back of the field and has instead spent much of the year hovering around Q2 and ahead of Aston Martin on pace at several tracks. Perez was denied a points finish in Monaco only by penalties.
Where they part company is on what happens next. Lowdon is building an institution. Perez wants the development pipeline torn up and rebuilt before another part is designed. Bottas simply wants more weekends like the last few.
Resources are already tilting towards the 2027 car, but Perez insists this one has not been written off. "No one in the team is happy with where we currently are," he said. "So I would think that the team will keep pushing a few more upgrades to come to make sure that we are able to at least show ourselves that our development process is strong."
Neither Cadillac finished in Hungary. Zandvoort, on 23 August, is where the second half of the argument begins.