Former Ferrari race engineer set to join Cadillac as head of race engineers. Cadillac continues to shape its Formula 1 project for 2026.

The former race engineer of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari is ready to return to Formula 1 in a new role, and he has chosen the Cadillac team to do so.

From 2026, Cadillac will make its Formula 1 debut as the eleventh team on the starting grid. For its first season in the top category of motorsport, the American outfit has decided to rely on two experienced drivers such as Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, formerly of Mercedes and Red Bull respectively. In recent days, further details have emerged regarding the internal structure of the team, including who will serve as the race engineers for Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. However, that is not all, as among the names linked to the Cadillac project there is also that of an engineer with a recent past at Ferrari. Here is who it is.

The head of race engineers

According to reports from PlanetF1.com, Xavier Marcos Padros, who served as Charles Leclerc’s race engineer at Ferrari until 2024, will become the new head of race engineers at the Cadillac team starting from the 2026 season. Initially, Xavier Marcos is believed to have taken his first steps within the Cadillac organisation in the endurance programme, where he was set to work as technical director.

The announcement of his departure from Ferrari came at the beginning of May 2024, when Bryan Bozzi took over his role and became the current race engineer of the Monegasque driver.

Again according to PlanetF1.com, Xavier Marcos Padros has already been present at several key Cadillac team activities. Last month, the American team carried out its first TPC tests at Imola, running the 2023 Ferrari car with Sergio Perez at the wheel. During the session, the former Ferrari race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros was reportedly among the engineers present at the Italian circuit, overseeing the tests carried out by the former Red Bull driver.

As Cadillac continues to build its Formula 1 structure ahead of the 2026 debut, the arrival of experienced figures from established teams underlines the ambition of the project and its intention to be competitive from the very start.

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