Cadillac arrived on the Formula 1 grid in 2026 knowing that a debut season would be a brutal education. Six months in, the lessons have come thick and fast: repeated brake fires, persistent overheating, suspension failures and a distinct lack of one-lap pace have left the American outfit rooted to the foot of the Constructors' Championship as the only team yet to score a point.

Yet amid the teething problems, there is genuine hope. The decision to hand the project to two seasoned race winners in Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas is paying dividends in experience and feedback, even if the scoreboard has yet to reflect it. Here is the half-term report on Cadillac's maiden campaign.

Best finish: Bottas 13th in China

It has largely seemed that Perez is more comfortable embracing the fledgling Cadillac project, but it is Bottas who holds the honour of the team's best Grand Prix finish of the season so far. Starting dead last in P20 in China, the Finn survived first-lap contact with his own team-mate and capitalised on the misfortune of others to climb to 13th.

Context is needed: four drivers failed to start the race and another three retired, boosting Bottas up the order automatically. Still, it marked a strong result for his first finish of the year — one he has yet to match, with P16 in Canada and Great Britain his next strongest outings. Cadillac did, of course, come agonisingly close to a maiden point earlier, when Perez initially took the chequered flag 10th in Monaco, only to be penalised after the race for being out of position on the restart and demoted to P15.

Qualifying head-to-head: Perez 6-5 Bottas

Cadillac's season has been about celebrating every milestone available — from outqualifying both Aston Martins for the first time at the Japanese Grand Prix to simply starting anywhere other than the back row. In that context, Perez marginally holds the upper hand over Bottas, beating the Finn on one-lap pace six times to five.

The competition remains tight, with both drivers having endured the dreaded P22 slot while also enjoying a joint-best qualifying result of P18 — Perez in Monaco and Bottas at Silverstone. Perez led the way in Australia, Japan, Canada, Monaco, Barcelona-Catalunya and Austria. But qualifying falls under Cadillac's overarching problem: neither driver has progressed from Q1 at any circuit this year.

Race head-to-head: Perez 6-3 Bottas

Perez comes into his own even more when race results are compared, edging Bottas six times and playing a key role in dragging Cadillac closer to the midfield teams they are determined to battle. Bottas has only crossed the line ahead of his team-mate in China, Canada and Belgium — and in the latter two, Perez was forced to retire the car with suspension failures. No mark was given for the Austrian and Hungarian Grands Prix as both drivers retired.

Reliability is a significant problem. Perez and Bottas have suffered four and five DNFs respectively, and any hope of consistent improvement was shed when overheating issues returned in Austria and Hungary to end both weekends early.

Best moment: the Monaco near-miss

Cadillac were under no illusions that they would arrive and immediately fight for points — but they came within a whisker of doing so at Monaco thanks to a patient, confident drive by Perez. Retirements and penalties a-plenty allowed the Mexican to climb from 18th to a remarkable 10th, providing the unexpected joy of scoring the team's first point just six rounds into its maiden campaign.

To their dismay, it was not to be. Having bounced back from a drive-through penalty for a starting infringement and thrived in the chaos of a late Safety Car, Perez was handed a 10-second time penalty for positioning his front right wheel outside his grid box at the red flag restart. While it was an infuriating way to lose the position, his execution proved Cadillac are on the right course to become a serious contender.

Worst moment: Austria's upgrade blow-up

Development has been a defining theme of 2026 as every team pushes to optimise the new generation of cars, and Cadillac are learning more than most after starting from scratch. They brought an ambitious upgrade package to the Austrian Grand Prix — updated sidepods and floor — with Team Principal Graeme Lowdon confident it would “continue our trajectory of steadily catching up to the midfield”.

That optimism rapidly dissipated at the Red Bull Ring. Reliability woes impacted Friday running before both drivers retired from the race, with Bottas completing just two laps and Perez lasting only slightly longer, bringing expectations crashing down.

Going forward

Cadillac have a fantastic foundation: two proven race winners, a team leadership with deep F1 experience in Lowdon and others, and rival outfits demonstrating what can be achieved with the Ferrari-supplied gearbox and engine. But the novelty is beginning to wear off, and they cannot afford to stand still, especially with nearest competitors Aston Martin introducing a much-needed B-spec car in Hungary just before the summer break.

Fixing reliability is likely the priority, followed by qualifying and race pace. A Q2 appearance or top-10 finish — probably reliant on another eventful race with retirements ahead — would represent a tangible achievement. Easier said than done, but as Cadillac work relentlessly behind the scenes, the hope is that if they can deliver a car worthy of regular midfield contests with Aston Martin, Williams and Audi, Perez and Bottas will undoubtedly make the most of it.