By Chris Perkins, writer and editor, GM News
How a virtual Spanish Grand Prix helps the Cadillac Formula 1® Team prepare for its racing debut
2025-11-24
By Chris Perkins, writer and editor, GM News
When the racing teams hit the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix in June 2025, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team was hard at work. The team wasn’t in Spain, though – they were working with simulation experts thousands of miles away at the Charlotte Technical Center, the state-of-the-art GM Motorsports facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team collaborated with GM Motorsports to run a simulated race concurrent with the Spanish Grand Prix, gathering real-time data that will play a crucial role when the team takes to the track next year. We get to see it all unfold in Episode 2 of What Makes Fast: Cadillac’s Road to F1®, a 10-part YouTube docuseries produced by General Motors.
Cadillac Formula 1® Team simulator driver – and 2019 Indy 500 winner – Simon Pagenaud drove a virtual model of an F1 car in the simulator, with a team of engineers working as if this was a real race.
“It was all hands on deck from all departments,” says Trevor Green-Smith, vehicle performance engineer for the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, in the video. “Race engineering, vehicle performance, tire performance, strategy. It was a phenomenal opportunity to really bench test the team.”
This simulation test helps get the team working well together, just like any group rehearsal. When the Cadillac Formula 1® Team hits the grid in March 2026 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, it won’t be their first time running a race together.
In Formula 1®, each driver competes as an individual, but it's very much a team sport. During any given race, dozens of personnel are making decisions at the track, and at places like the Charlotte Technical Center, analyzing data and finding ways to best optimize the performance of the car and the team.
Pagenaud gives an example: The driver comes on the radio to report that the tires are wearing out too fast. In a real race scenario, someone needs to examine the problem, figure out a solution, and bring that solution to the race engineer, who tells the driver what to do. All this needs to happen as quickly as possible. “We just talked about it for quite a while now,” Pagenaud explains. “How do you reduce that? That’s what the rehearsal is about.”
Getting tens, if not hundreds, of people all working effectively towards a common goal is critically important. Tests like this help make sure that happens. With the documentary crew in tow, we get a unique look at the inner workings of the newest Formula 1® team. The simulated Spanish Grand Prix provides a great illustration of the enormity of their task. Everyone seems to agree that the rehearsal went well, but there’s still a lot more work to do. The episode reinforces just how important simulation is in modern Grand Prix racing. It’s a tool to develop the car and driver, of course, but as you see here, it’s also crucial to developing the team.
What Makes Fast will continue to follow the Cadillac Formula 1® Team in the runup to their Grand Prix debut, with the final episode set to debut in April 2026 just after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Watch the full episode here:
Video link: https://youtu.be/Uzca7fdhL7s
When the racing teams hit the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix in June 2025, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team was hard at work. The team wasn’t in Spain, though – they were working with simulation experts thousands of miles away at the Charlotte Technical Center, the state-of-the-art GM Motorsports facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team collaborated with GM Motorsports to run a simulated race concurrent with the Spanish Grand Prix, gathering real-time data that will play a crucial role when the team takes to the track next year. We get to see it all unfold in Episode 2 of What Makes Fast: Cadillac’s Road to F1®, a 10-part YouTube docuseries produced by General Motors.
Cadillac Formula 1® Team simulator driver – and 2019 Indy 500 winner – Simon Pagenaud drove a virtual model of an F1 car in the simulator, with a team of engineers working as if this was a real race.
“It was all hands on deck from all departments,” says Trevor Green-Smith, vehicle performance engineer for the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, in the video. “Race engineering, vehicle performance, tire performance, strategy. It was a phenomenal opportunity to really bench test the team.”
This simulation test helps get the team working well together, just like any group rehearsal. When the Cadillac Formula 1® Team hits the grid in March 2026 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, it won’t be their first time running a race together.
In Formula 1®, each driver competes as an individual, but it's very much a team sport. During any given race, dozens of personnel are making decisions at the track, and at places like the Charlotte Technical Center, analyzing data and finding ways to best optimize the performance of the car and the team.
Pagenaud gives an example: The driver comes on the radio to report that the tires are wearing out too fast. In a real race scenario, someone needs to examine the problem, figure out a solution, and bring that solution to the race engineer, who tells the driver what to do. All this needs to happen as quickly as possible. “We just talked about it for quite a while now,” Pagenaud explains. “How do you reduce that? That’s what the rehearsal is about.”
Getting tens, if not hundreds, of people all working effectively towards a common goal is critically important. Tests like this help make sure that happens. With the documentary crew in tow, we get a unique look at the inner workings of the newest Formula 1® team. The simulated Spanish Grand Prix provides a great illustration of the enormity of their task. Everyone seems to agree that the rehearsal went well, but there’s still a lot more work to do. The episode reinforces just how important simulation is in modern Grand Prix racing. It’s a tool to develop the car and driver, of course, but as you see here, it’s also crucial to developing the team.
What Makes Fast will continue to follow the Cadillac Formula 1® Team in the runup to their Grand Prix debut, with the final episode set to debut in April 2026 just after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Watch the full episode here: