Cadillac deliver 'survive' recognition ahead of F1 growth pledge

Cadillac technical chief Pat Symonds has set a goal of having 600 personnel as part of the newly-formed F1 team before its debut next year.

The American squad is joining the grid as an 11th team in just a few months' time, expanding the field to 22 cars for the first time since 2016.

The team has been in the works for several years, starting off as a project from Michael Andretti before General Motors took over.

It has continued to grow ever since, setting up a base in Silverstone and continuing to add to its workforce. 

Symonds highlighted Cadillac is hoping to bring its staff count up to 600 before the 2026 season begins, a figure it feels it can “survive” with for the foreseeable future. 

“We're targeting around the sort of 600 mark at the beginning of next year,” Symonds exclusively told RacingNews365.

“But you must remember, we're not doing very much manufacturing. We've got the machine shop. 

“We've got what we call a rapid response group who are doing some of the composite parts that you need to rattle out on a week-by-week basis.

“We can survive at that sort of number for a while. And then as we start bringing manufacturing in, the team [will increase].”

Major F1 players such as Red Bull and Mercedes have over 1,000 staff members contributing to the project.

Symonds, however, does not see Cadillac needing to expand its numbers to mirror the teams competing at the front of the grid.

“I don't think 1,000 plus is the right number. I think it's below 1,000, I really do,” he said.

“I think if you work efficiently and again, each one of those people is cost cap people. 

“So everyone you employ that's not a development partner doesn't go on the car. so we will operate as lean as we can, but we look we'll do that by operating efficiently.”