Cadillac replaced its team principal in the middle of its first Formula 1 season. At Zandvoort, both of its drivers were finally asked what they made of it.
Valtteri Bottas began generously. Graeme Lowdon is a friend, and Bottas made no attempt to qualify the work he did. "He's done a great job setting up the team, getting ready to be on the grid in the first race. I take my hat off to him for that," he told GPblog and other outlets.
He was equally clear that he had not seen it coming, and that the reasoning reached him after the fact. "I think a big change like this in the middle of the season is always initially surprising. But, yeah, then speaking with Dan [Towriss, CEO] and others, all the reasons for this change were explained to me, and I respect that. I think if we just keep everything the same, we're never going to progress."
Pressed on whether respecting the call was the same as agreeing with it, Bottas went quiet for a moment. Then: "I respect it. I think, like with any change, time will always tell you know, what change is good, what change is bad. So I can't predict the future."
On the underlying problem he is less guarded. Cadillac's season has been undermined by issues that would not go away — overheating brakes above all, which have cost the team finishes. Bottas thinks that stalemate "probably" played into Lowdon's removal. His surprise was about where the change landed.
"Some issues we've had have been just dragging along, but I didn't maybe quite expect it to be such a big change. I was maybe expecting more stuff happening at the factory and stuff," he said. "We as drivers don't see what needs to be changed sometimes when it comes to these things, because we're obviously very focused on the driving, on the performance, on giving our feedback. We are not the people who structure the team. That's not our job."
His own theory was about management culture rather than engineering. "I think also the American way can be a bit more reactive and sudden than the European way of leading a team. I don't think they are afraid of changing people suddenly if they see that that could be a good thing for the future."
Sergio Perez, asked about his own position a week earlier, gave a far less complicated answer. Williams and Alpine had both been attached to his name; he dismissed the idea flatly.
"Well, from my side it was already clear when I came here. It was a two-year deal. But obviously I want this. I see this as my project and I want to be part of Cadillac for the long term, because when you start something from scratch it requires a lot of time," Perez said, adding: "I'm really happy here and I look forward to continuing for the long term here. I think there will be some discussions later on and we'll see what happens."
Bottas has a deal to the end of 2027 and says Marcin Budkowski's arrival in Lowdon's place does not threaten it. "Not in the near future, no. I'm still all set, obviously, for next year. But then, yeah, eventually we're going to talk about what is happening beyond '27. But yeah, that's not yet."
All of this is playing out against noise higher up the ownership chain. TWG Global, which backs the team alongside General Motors, spent last week rejecting reporting that it might sell sports assets to support its insurance companies, stating there had been "no fraud" and that no "fire sale" is underway. Ben Hunt of GPblog, a journalist with two decades in the sport, reads the immediate signal as continuity — but points out that Formula 1 runs on confidence, and that partners, recruits and suppliers will be watching how the regulatory inquiries land at precisely the point a new team can least afford distraction.
No charges have been brought against Mark Walter or his companies, and nothing has been announced that changes Cadillac's funding, ownership or racing programme. General Motors remains approved to supply engines from 2029, with the team built toward full works status.
Twelve rounds in, neither car has scored. Perez went closest at Monaco, where a time penalty removed a top-ten finish. The drivers are holding the line publicly, which counts for something. But the most telling moment of the week was the gap before Bottas answered.