Guenther Steiner has never been one to sugarcoat a disaster, and Cadillac’s miserable maiden Formula 1 season is exactly the sort of car crash he loves picking apart. His advice to the newest team on the grid is brutally simple: stop wasting time on 2026, it’s already over.
Cadillac arrived this year with a driver line-up of proper pedigree in Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, plenty of American swagger, and presumably a boardroom full of people who thought Formula 1 couldn’t be that hard. Eight months later they sit rock bottom of the constructors’ championship, still searching for their first point, and now shuffling personnel at the top in a desperate bid to find some direction.
Steiner’s Verdict: Pull the Plug Now
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas team principal did not hold back on what he thinks should happen next at Cadillac’s headquarters.
“There were a lot of expectations created. If they had been last, fine, but they are so far off, they have no chance to be second-last.” – Guenther Steiner
That’s the killer line, isn’t it? It’s not that Cadillac are struggling. Every new team struggles. It’s that they’re struggling by a margin that makes “worst rookie season in years” look generous. Eleventh out of eleven with zero points while Audi, a team that’s also new to the grid in its current guise, has scraped together 12, tells its own story.
Time to Stop Chasing 2026 Ghosts
Steiner reckons the sensible move is obvious, and it’s one he expects incoming team principal Marcin Budkowski to make almost immediately after replacing Graeme Lowdon.
“We will get an announcement that this season is over, let’s focus on ’27. There is no point doing anything for ’26 anymore. Whatever you’ve got in the pipeline, do it, but then just focus on ’27.” – Guenther Steiner
He didn’t stop there, either, painting a picture of Budkowski walking into the factory and immediately binning any half-finished upgrade parts destined for Abu Dhabi.
“I think that Marcin, when he gets in there, that’s the first thing he will be doing. He will not try to make a new front wing for the race in Abu Dhabi. He doesn’t care about it anymore because that train has gone or that ship has sailed.” – Guenther Steiner
Harsh, but hard to argue with. Formula 1 development cycles are brutal, and pouring resource into a car that’s already a lost cause while your rivals are sharpening knives for 2027 is the sporting equivalent of rearranging deck chairs.
Where the Real Problem Started
What’s more interesting is Steiner’s theory on how Cadillac ended up here in the first place. It’s not really about the car, he suggests, it’s about attitude.
“I think it’s just like they thought it was easier and didn’t believe anybody. There are a lot of people who are not from F1, and they just think: ‘OK, we do it, and why do all these people tell us it’s difficult? We know better anyway.'” – Guenther Steiner
It’s a familiar tale in Formula 1. Outsiders arrive convinced their money, their brand power, and their business acumen from other industries will translate neatly onto the grid, only to discover that building a competitive F1 car requires years of accumulated know-how that simply cannot be bought overnight. Cadillac has the backing of General Motors, a huge marketing push, and two drivers who know their way round a paddock, yet none of that has been enough to bridge the gap.
A Cautionary Tale, Not Just Cadillac’s Problem
There’s a wider point buried in Steiner’s comments that other teams should take note of too. Formula 1’s grid expansion has been sold as evidence of the sport’s booming appeal, yet the on-track reality for the newcomers has been humbling. Audi, backed by an entire German manufacturer’s engineering department, is hardly setting the world alight either, sitting eighth with a solitary 12 points. If two manufacturer-backed entries with serious budgets are floundering this badly, it rather undercuts the narrative that anyone with deep enough pockets can walk in and be competitive.
Meanwhile the established order carries on regardless. Mercedes are running away with both championships this year, with Kimi Antonelli leading the drivers’ standings on 219 points and Mercedes comfortably clear at the top of the constructors’ table. It’s a reminder of just how far Cadillac and Audi have to travel before they’re even sniffing the midfield, let alone the sharp end.
The Only Sensible Move Left
Cadillac’s leadership reshuffle already suggests the penny may be dropping internally. Bringing in Budkowski, a man with proper technical pedigree from his time at Alpine and the FIA, hints that the team knows its current trajectory isn’t working. Whether he genuinely tears up the 2026 development sheet the moment he arrives, as Steiner predicts, remains to be seen, but it would be the only rational call.
There’s no shame in admitting a debut season has gone badly. What would be shameful is spending another six races throwing good money after bad on a car that was never going to climb the order, all in the name of protecting appearances. Steiner’s read is blunt, but it’s the sort of blunt honesty Cadillac’s bosses probably need to hear rather than another round of corporate reassurance about “the journey” and “long-term vision”.
Formula 1 doesn’t care about journeys. It cares about lap times, and right now Cadillac simply doesn’t have them. The sooner they stop pretending otherwise, the sooner they might actually build a car worth caring about.
