Cadillac UK Base Remains Central to F1 Plan, Budkowski Says
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 23, 2026
Cadillac UK base
Cadillac is keeping Silverstone at the center of its Formula 1 operation, and Marcin Budkowski pushed back hard on rumors that the team is preparing a quick move away from the United Kingdom. He called the relocation talk totally unfounded and said Cadillac is building a long-term international footprint with major pieces in both Britain and the United States. Silverstone is already handling key manufacturing and logistics work, and Budkowski said the site gives the team a strong base even if it is only temporary. He also said Britain remains central to the project, a point that fits the way Cadillac has started life in F1 after entering the championship this season as the sport’s 11th team. New facilities are still coming together in Indianapolis and Charlotte, but the UK side is already active. Budkowski said both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez have visited the Silverstone site for technical meetings, another sign that the team is using the British base as an operating center while it builds out the rest of its structure.
Bottas split defense
Bottas defended Cadillac’s split operation between the United Kingdom and the United States, arguing that the team is building a structure that fits its needs rather than forcing one that would become a weakness. He said the setup brings together established Formula 1 knowledge in the UK with fresh ideas and motorsport expertise from General Motors in the U.S., giving Cadillac access to both experienced race infrastructure and a new corporate base with room to grow. That approach also fits the team’s longer-term plan for a power unit program, with GM aiming to build Cadillac’s power unit in America as part of the strategy. The result is a deliberately broad footprint, with Silverstone providing immediate Formula 1 capability while Indianapolis and Charlotte develop into larger parts of the operation. Bottas’ view was clear, the split is not a problem to be hidden, but a plan to be used. He cast it as a practical way to build a new team from the ground up, one that can lean on the sport’s existing knowledge base and still bring in ideas from outside the traditional European Formula 1 core.
Szafnauer structure warning
Otmar Szafnauer offered the sharpest counterpoint, saying a three-way split across Silverstone, Indianapolis and Charlotte could handicap a team trying to win a world championship. He argued that a more unified setup, such as Mercedes’, would be more effective because it keeps the operation tighter and easier to manage. Szafnauer said he made that point directly to executive engineering consultant Pat Symonds, and he said Symonds told him the structure would only be suboptimal if Cadillac’s goal is to win the world championship. That exchange underlined the central debate around Cadillac’s early Formula 1 identity. The team has a wide geographic spread, and that gives it access to different talent pools, different ideas and different technical strengths. It also creates questions about how much complexity a new entrant can handle while trying to climb toward the front of the grid. Szafnauer’s comments framed the issue in competitive terms, not organizational ones. Cadillac can build a large international operation, but the challenge will be turning that reach into a faster, cleaner and more connected race team once the season moves deeper into its development cycle.
