I highly doubt the 107% rule will actually be enforced. It's meant to discourage unserious teams akin to the backmarkers of the early 2010s.gearboxtrouble wrote: ↑20 Jan 2026, 03:5711. Cadillac - Will fail to qualify for multiple early races and finish the season over a second off the next worst car.
Cadillac is a high budget, serious team that is aiming to become at least a midfielder, as well as a works team in the future. Should they fail to hit 107%, they will be granted exceptions and will be allowed to race regardless. F1 wants to keep Cadillac and not embarrass them. They also need the track time to improve operationally and to get enough data.
I also doubt that they will fail to qualify. I see them being last by a fair margin, probably similar to Williams in 2019 or ever so slightly worse, but they will not be so slow that they can't qualify. Unlike the early 2010s backmarkers, they have a real engine and a real budget to work with. If they are truly THAT slow, despite how unlikely I think that is, they will have enough resources to recoup seconds worth of pace deficit in a matter of a few races by taking "inspiration" from other cars.