BEYOND THE GRID: Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss on the challenge of making the grid in Australia with an all-new team

For the first time in a decade the Formula 1 grid featured 11 teams and 22 cars when the contenders lined up for the start of the Australian Grand Prix last Sunday in Melbourne.

Cadillac were the F1 newcomers, and the first all-new team to join the sport since Haas arrived back in 2016. Such is the challenge of modern Formula 1, just getting two cars on the grid for a race is a huge achievement in itself. But Cadillac's ambitions stretch much further than that.

In this week's Beyond The Grid podcast, team CEO Dan Towriss takes host Tom Clarkson back to the start of the story.

He explains how he and his TWG Motorsports company first became involved in discussions about F1, their conversations with General Motors and Cadillac, the work to build a team, choosing their race drivers and making their F1 debut in Australia.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are the first drivers selected to represent the famous American brand in Formula 1, so what do they bring to a new team? What does the future hold for the team’s reserve driver, IndyCar star Colton Herta?

And what are the team’s aims in their first season? The learning curve is steep at the pinnacle of motorsport, but as Dan explains, "no part of this should be easy".

To listen to this week’s episode, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library here.