The Cadillac Formula 1 Team heads into the Miami Grand Prix weekend May 1-3, still looking for its first championship points, but the new American team has already made progress through the opening three races of its debut season.
That makes Miami more than another stop on the F1 calendar. For Fishers, it is another reminder that Cadillac’s Formula 1 operation is becoming a local story, with the team’s headquarters under construction here and expected to serve as a major hub for the program.
Cadillac enters Miami 10th in the constructors’ standings with zero points, ahead of Aston Martin on tiebreakers but behind Williams and Audi, each with two points. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez have yet to crack the top 10, the only positions that score points in Formula 1.
The team’s best finish so far came in China, where Bottas placed 13th and Perez finished 15th. Perez later accepted blame for an early incident between the two Cadillac cars, calling his attempted move “fully on me.”
In Japan, the most recent race, Perez finished 17th and Bottas 19th, leaving Cadillac with work to do before it can challenge regularly for points.
The Miami weekend also carries symbolic weight. Cadillac is promoting the race as its first home Grand Prix weekend and will operate a public “Cadillac Formula 1 Team Miami Headquarters” fan experience May 2-3 at Jungle Plaza in Miami’s Design District.
The race weekend begins Friday, May 1, with an extended 90-minute practice session, followed by sprint qualifying. The sprint race is Saturday, May 2, followed by qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix. The Miami Grand Prix is scheduled for Sunday, May 3.
For Cadillac, Miami is less about immediate podium dreams and more about measuring progress. The team has veteran drivers, a Ferrari power unit, General Motors backing and a growing American footprint that includes Fishers. But in Formula 1, the first points are often the hardest to earn.
For Fishers racing fans, the question is simple: how long before the team building its future here begins moving up the Formula 1 grid?