Why Cadillac’s F1 livery means so much to the team: “It has to stand for something”

Cadillac Formula 1 team principal Graeme Lowdon has discussed the livery of their 2026 car, offering hints at what it could look like as the team enters the grid for the first time.

Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Lowdon explained the differences between colours and how they affect the car in various ways. While this aspect of design is important to him, he also added that it must “stand for something” above all else.

“White cars are heavier than black cars – by a few grams. And a few grams makes a difference in Formula 1,” he explained. “So my guess is that there’ll be a lot of dark-coloured cars in 2026 if the engineers win the day, and light-coloured cars if the graphic design team wins the day. Because, you know, they tend to pop a bit more on TV.

“It may sound strange, but the weight of the colour makes a difference.

“Cars are either painted or wrapped. So they use paint, or they’re wrapped using some kind of vinyl. And if you wrap black carbon, you need heavier vinyl if it’s a light colour than if it’s a dark colour.”

Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac F1 team principal

Photo by: Cadillac Communications

Even the difference between a gloss and a matte paint scheme can offer a weight difference – something Red Bull is enjoying after moving to a lighter matte base colour.

While heat dissipation differs between light and dark colours, very little heat from, for example, the power unit is dissipated through the bodywork. Instead, this is taken care of by the sophisticated cooling systems hidden beneath the sidepods and engine cover. But lighter colours do tend to become discoloured by high temperatures, according to the team chief.

“And then the heat rejection from the cars differs from year to year,” he continued. “We’ve got a new power unit coming in ’26, and so it’s difficult to have light colours where there’s a lot of heat going on because it tends to discolour. Some colours go well with a transition to dark, others don’t. So there’s just a huge science behind it all.”

Above all, Lowdon wants his car to pass the ’12-year-old fan test’.

“I want to have in my mind, when we roll those cars out for the first time on a grid, we want fans to look at them and go, ‘That looks great,'” he said.

“I’ve always thought whatever we do with a car, it should pass the 12-year-old boy or girl fan test. You know, that’s the car they want to put a poster of on their bedroom wall, and that’s the team they want to follow.

“If it doesn’t pass the poster test, then, you know, nobody wants to run around with a car that looks rubbish, do they? You want the best-looking car on the grid.”

The aesthetics of the car carries significant weight for the team, with Lowdon admitting he doesn’t want the car to be “fast but forgettable”.

“There are a lot of cars that have been really successful that, you know, you wouldn’t look twice at. But that’s not enough for us. This is Cadillac – there’s a legacy here of bold, iconic design. Our car has to stand for something. It has to look aggressive. It has to look exciting.

“Formula 1 is about emotion. You’ve got to feel something when you look at the car. That’s part of what draws fans in – especially the younger ones. You want them to dream about that car, imagine themselves driving it. That’s the level of connection we’re aiming for.

“So yeah, if it’s fast but forgettable, we’ve missed the point.”

Cadillac joins the championship backed by General Motors, with a driver pairing for next year that remains unknown.