Cadillac’s Formula 1 Team Trades Its Race Suit for Western Wear in Austin
Cadillac is dressing up for its trip to the Lone Star State. This weekend at the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, the Cadillac Formula 1 Team will race a one-off livery inspired by classic western wear.
Picture the chain stitching on your favorite pair of jeans, the piping on a vintage cowboy shirt, and the scrollwork on a hand-tooled saddle. In short, that’s the whole idea behind this design. For our family in East Texas, this one hits close to home at GT: Garage Talk®.
A Texan at the Drawing Board
To begin with, the design started with a born-and-raised Texan. Vincent Traina, design manager at the General Motors Performance, Motorsports and Accessories studio, grew up in Dallas. He has followed Formula 1 since childhood, when his dad woke him before sunrise to watch races broadcast from Europe.
So when the team decided to celebrate its American roots in Austin, the project became a career-defining moment for him. After all, it combined his Texas upbringing, his GM Design role, and his love of the sport.
Over the summer, Traina’s group met at GM Design in Detroit with the team’s creatives, led by Chief Brand Advisor Cassidy Towriss. Then they landed on the western wear theme quickly. “It looks like the whole livery is embroidered right onto the car,” Traina said.
Stitching That Answers to Aerodynamics
Of course, dressing up a Formula 1 car is nothing like wrapping a pickup. Engineers shape every inch of bodywork for downforce and cooling, because the car tops 200 mph. As a result, the designers could only work within specific areas the team approved.
To make it work, Traina’s team in Michigan partnered with designers at the team’s technical center in the U.K. Specifically, that group included Jamie Thresher, senior design visualization CG artist.
Thresher admitted the stitched look was probably the hardest theme they could have picked. In fact, rendering every single stitch in a digital illustration took serious patience. Still, he said the early nerves turned into excitement once the work got rolling.
Family Easter Eggs Hidden in the Cadillac Formula 1 Livery
Here’s where families watching from the couch can have some fun. The design hides several hometown touches, including:
- An embroidered Austin skyline
- A map of Circuit of The Americas
- Fifty stars representing the United States
- Cactuses representing Texas
- A horseshoe with its heels facing up, a classic symbol of good luck
The theme also carries over to custom driver suits for Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez. In other words, turning race day into a game of “spot the cactus” is an easy way to keep young fans glued to the TV.
Elevated Western, Not a Costume
Most importantly, the team kept it classy. Rather than leaning on cowboy clichés, the designers treated the race car like the interior of a Cadillac production vehicle. In practice, that meant a clean color palette, elevated details, and just enough playfulness to feel fun.
Dominic Najafi, executive director of Global Cadillac, described the result as a blend of Texas craftsmanship and Cadillac design precision. It’s the same balance the brand chases in its showroom flagships, like the supercharged Cadillac Escalade V we tested.
Part of a Season-Long American Story
Austin marks the third one-off livery of Cadillac’s debut Formula 1 season. Earlier this year, the team ran special designs at the Miami Grand Prix in May and the British Grand Prix in July.
According to Towriss, each chapter explores a different side of American identity. Miami focused on American symbols, while Silverstone celebrated American color. Now, Austin tells the story of the American West through its character.
Why Texas Families Should Care
For Texas families, this may not be a big deal. America’s newest Formula 1 team is bringing a Texas tribute to Texas soil. What does that mean for daily living here in the Lone Star State? Not much. It does wear the same crest you’ll find on the Cadillac Escalade in the school pickup line, but is far from what you can buy yourself at your local dealer.
Meanwhile, those big SUVs matter off the track, too. As we covered in our breakdown of GM’s third-quarter sales, big SUVs stayed strong even as overall sales dipped.
Will you be watching the Cadillac Formula 1 Team race in Austin this weekend? Let us know. Then, subscribe to GT: Garage Talk on YouTube for more real-world car talk for families.
