Cadillac sit P10 in the 2026 constructors' championship after Miami, zero points to their name through four rounds. That's the bottom rung of the table for GM's grand American entry, and nobody inside the operation is pretending otherwise.
Miami didn't change the math. Sergio Pérez crossed the line P16, a lap down. Valtteri Bottas came home P18, also lapped. Two veterans, two finishes outside the points, one car that hasn't yet shown it can run on the lead lap with the midfield on a Sunday. That's the ledger.
The recent YF1 coverage has circled the same theme from both sides of the garage. Pérez, the 35-year-old with a Red Bull résumé and a stack of grand prix wins, was hired to be a calibrated reference point — to tell engineers whether a balance complaint is the car or the driver. Bottas, with a decade of mileage and four Mercedes constructors' titles in his back pocket, was hired to do the same. Neither was brought in to chase Q3 in April. They were brought in to absorb year-one punishment and turn it into data. Through four rounds, that's exactly the bargain being honored, and the standings reflect it honestly.
What to watch next is whether Cadillac can close the gap on the lead lap. Finishing on the same lap as the winner is the first benchmark for a debut operation. Points come after that. For now, the project is the point.