Cadillac wrapped the first half of its debut F1 season sitting dead last in the standings with zero points, but that's not the disaster it sounds like. The American outfit hit every deadline from shakedown to race day, showed up roughly three seconds off the leaders' pace, and spent most of the season outrunning Aston Martin — a team with years of infrastructure behind it. Sergio Perez came within one position of scoring at Monaco, and the operation looked polished at its Miami homecoming.
The growing pains are real. Nine retirements trail only Aston Martin, brake overheating knocked both cars out in Austria and resurfaced in Hungary, and both drivers are grumbling about development pace. Team principal Graeme Lowdon calls it "the right level of tension," and for a start-up fielding a car in F1's most complicated era, a C grade at the break isn't embarrassing. The question is whether Cadillac can close that three-second gap before American fans' patience runs out.
Read the full story at Motorsport.com
