Cadillac's first home race in Formula 1 came wrapped in stars and stripes, with the American outfit unveiling a black, white and silver livery splashed with US flag motifs for the Miami Grand Prix. The visual was loud. Team principal Graeme Lowdon's message was anything but.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez again finished outside the points, but both cars saw the chequered flag for the third race in a row - a streak that matters for an organisation built from scratch over 18 months.
"It's still so early days," Lowdon said. "I know I keep saying it, but we've only done three of these things [races]."
The team principal refused to attach result targets to the home weekend.
"No, still very much looking at progress," he said. "The key thing now is just how do we keep improving both in terms of design, production, operation, and executing the race weekend."
Lowdon called pit stops the area he is least comfortable with.
"Pit stops, the bulk of our pit stops have actually been not under pressure," he said, "but if you really mess it up it would make a big difference."
The most striking technical revelation was an admission that Perez ran a Cadillac aerodynamic upgrade with a piece missing.
"Checo was missing one part that may have added a little bit, but this will be rectified in rotation, agreed between the drivers and team," Lowdon said.
Despite the missing component, Perez out-qualified Bottas by close to eight tenths in sprint qualifying. A weighbridge visit cost him a final lap that Lowdon believed could have put him in SQ2.
"He could potentially have made it to SQ2 had he got a second run," Lowdon said. "A missed opportunity, but we will learn from it."
Perez was philosophical: "I was very happy with my lap in sprint quali, and the pace is promising, but sadly, I only had the one run."
The stars-and-stripes wrap will be the lasting image of Cadillac's Miami debut. The race team's lasting story is a slower one - both cars home, parts being rotated, pit-stop discipline being built.
