How Cadillac Built an F1 Debut Engineered for Everyone

When Cadillac Formula 1 Team decided that their first proper introduction to the world would happen during the Super Bowl and then immediately spill into the cultural center that is Times Square in New York City, it wasn't because these were the biggest stages available.

It was because they were the loudest, messiest, most public platforms possible.

"We talked about the Super Bowl in my interview," the team's Chief Marketing Officer, Ahmed Iqbal, told me with a slight laugh about how casual that sentence sounded. When Ahmed entered the doors of Cadillac in October 2025, though, that sentence would feel pointedly less like a joke.

In one of his first meetings with Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsport, that Super Bowl question suddenly made 'sense'.

Cadillac F1 Barcelona Test Car | Cadillac

A Super Bowl ad is not how most Formula 1 teams launch themselves into the sport, but then again, Cadillac Formula 1 Team isn't doing most things the "usual way."

Why these platforms and why now

For Cadillac, the Super Bowl and Times Square weren't chosen because they are considered "prestigious" or "exclusive" but because they lack exactly those characteristics.

Ahmed shared the same thoughts as many F1 fans: F1 launches aren't accessible. They live in environments that require context to enter: press rooms, private invitations, and million-dollar sponsorship deals. Cadillac wanted their first impression in F1 to not only reach fans, but reach people who weren't already looking for the sport in the first place.

The Super Bowl naturally accomplishes that. It's one of the few moments where attention is collective – not just watching a game, but watching for the cultural moments like the halftime show and ad slots featuring some of their favorite celebrities and brands. As Ahmed acknowledged, though, that moment is fleeting.

“A Super Bowl spot is a one-way conversation,” he explained. You get seconds on a screen, then it’s gone.

Thus, Times Square was designed to address that problem. It gives the reveal a physical 'life' and a story to tell. You can see it, experience it, and live it for longer than 30 seconds on a screen. Instead of asking the masses to come to Formula 1. Cadillac brought Formula 1 directly into one of the most public places in the world.

For Ahmed and the team, it wasn't about creating spectacle for its own sake but creating access.

“Creating accessibility to the sport is huge. Especially when it’s hard to get to, and there aren’t so many places where people can experience it. Times Square is a global crossroad, and there's so many fans in the city. We wanted to find a place that made a lot of sense to do the reveal. This is the countdown to one of the biggest moments of the team's history, and New York City is the home of all countdowns, right here.”
Ahmed Iqbal, CMO, Cadillac

Telling the story of Cadillac in Times Square

The box itself is beautiful. Sleek design plated in chrome and frosted glass elements. In order to make people actually pay attention for more than a split second, though, you need to build in texture.

Cadillac F1 Team Times Square | Courtesy of Cadillac F1

That texture came through occupying more than one of our senses. Audio plays through speakers with the iconic F1 'beeping countdown', but the more interesting element is with choreography grounded in the reality of the team.

There were three actors inside the box with the car, moving as though they were actually working on improving Cadillac's F1 entry. The key was that these actors' movements were based on the actual movements of pit crews and engineering teams, as captured in videos from the Barcelona closed-season test.

Ahmed and the Creative Directors from Translation both explained that the intention wasn’t to explain Formula 1 in detail, but to hint at the precision and coordination behind it, enough to make people stop and watch a little longer.

That pause mattered. The research mattered. Additionally, the Creative Directors of the project shared with me that everything, down to the casting, was intentional. As they described, it was "1:1". They chose crew from Indianapolis, North Carolina (GM), and the UK as inspiration for their 'reveal characters'.

Without decades of Formula 1 History to lean on, Cadillac had the freedom to start from scratch. Not just building the car, but also shaping how the team would be seen. That intent showed up quietly but clearly in their Times Square Installation.

Cadillac F1 Times Square Actors with Car | Grand Prix on SI

The figures working on the car weren't anonymous or interchangeable: Two women and one man, one of whom was visibly a woman of color. It wasn't framed as a loud statement, but it was deliberate, and a reflection that was later confirmed by the creative directors.

Transparency as a through-line

From a fan's standpoint, the energy and desire for Cadillac to show up differently in the Formula 1 space was palpable when talking to Ahmed and the Translation team.

Ahmed said something you rarely hear from an F1 Team itself, and on rare occasions, sponsors, content creators, and social media will play a central role in Cadillac's development in F1.

"One of the big things we want to do is create more transparency into the Formula 1 team. They [creators] represent the fan. They represent the average person. Social is a way to win, consistently, and connect with those fans as well"
Ahmed Iqbal, CMO, Cadillac F1

For Cadillac, that transparency isn’t an add-on or buzzword, but a requirement that Ahmed and the marketing organization have implemented in real time. To them, authenticity dictates success – a statement that they have already put into practice with a number of F1 creators in New York for the Times Square reveal.

Transparency is the core reason that Cadillac’s reveal plans do not feel overly polished or ceremonial. They feel alive. They feel like they are for everyone, not just sponsors or a select few with enough followers to snag an invite. Everyone is welcome.

Cadillac is not trying to invent Formula 1, but they are reframing who gets access to it. The Super Bowl and Times Square multiply the audience exponentially. The creative direction and intentionality of the reveal display inclusion and humanity.

This wasn’t a reveal built for the paddock. It was built for the passerby. For the fan who just knows that 'something interesting' is happening and stops for a minute or two.

For Cadillac, a new team, an American team, that impression may be the most important introduction of all.

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