Steiner urges Cadillac to write off 2026 F1 season and redirect resources to 2027

Guenther Steiner has called on Cadillac to abandon all meaningful development of its 2026 Formula 1 car and concentrate fully on building a competitive challenger for 2027, as the team’s debut season unravels amid reliability failures and a last-place position in the constructors’ standings.

Cadillac entered the 2026 championship with an experienced pairing of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, but the American outfit has yet to score a single point and sits 11th — last — in the standings. The team has also recently replaced team principal Graeme Lowdon with Marcin Budkowski.

“We will get an announcement that this season is over, let’s focus on ‘27,” Steiner said during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast. “There is no point doing anything for ‘26 anymore. Whatever you’ve got in the pipeline, do it, but then just focus on ‘27.”

Steiner, who led Haas through its own difficult early seasons in F1, was pointed in his assessment of Cadillac’s incoming team principal. “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.”

The Italian-American team boss also suggested that Cadillac’s management underestimated the challenge of entering Formula 1 from scratch. “I think it’s just like they thought it was easier and didn’t believe anybody,” Steiner said. “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.’”

Steiner had noted that while finishing last in a debut season is an understandable outcome, Cadillac’s margin to the rest of the field has been the more damaging issue. “If they had been last, fine, but they are so far off, they have no chance to be second-last,” he said.

Budkowski, who previously served as Renault’s executive director before the team rebranded as Alpine, now faces the task of stabilising the organisation and laying the groundwork for a more competitive 2027 campaign.