Cadillac handed F1 goal: 'It would be an incredible achievement'

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok has stated it would be an “incredible achievement” for Cadillac to escape the Q1 drop zone early in the year.

Cadillac has joined the grid as an 11th team this year and made its debut last week at the Barcelona shakedown.

The team ran into various issues, but the team asserted it was expecting to run into difficulties as it got itself up and running.

With the opening round of the year in Australia just one month away, Chandhok is not expecting Cadillac to set the world alight, stating an early-season Q2 appearance can be considered a success.

“Cadillac is in a really interesting position, they’ve recruited so many people from other teams,” he told Sky F1.

“A lot from Enstone, it has to be said. The fact that Nick Chester and Rob White are the two technical leaders, along with Pat Simmons as a technical consultant, they’re all ex-Enstone.

“They’ve had a bit of an exodus of people following them. It's one of the stories I'm most interested in this year.

“Just to see, can they get out of Q1 in the early part of the season? Honestly, if they can do that in the first quarter of the season, even get out of Q1, that would be an incredible achievement.”

Cadillac enter the year with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez as its driver line-up as the American squad opted for an experienced set-up.

Chandhok insisted it was the right way to go, using Aston Martin and Williams as examples of how difficult it is to succeed.

“It’s not a cutting-edge risky option that Cadillac gone for, but I think it's the right option,” he said.

“They’ve got so many other variables at play. I drove for two of the start-up teams in 2010 and 2011 who both went pop.

“It’s so hard to arrive into F1 with a new team, because the level of every team is so high.

“Now you've got the likes of Aston Martin and Williams, two fantastic teams struggling to make it to the track [in Barcelona].

“It’s such a high level that everyone's operating at.”