MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — From a round of golf with Scottie Scheffler to private dinners around Miami and a splashy event at Carbone, the new Cadillac Formula 1 team was everywhere as it made its United States racing debut.The American-owned team used the Miami Grand Prix, the fourth race of the F1 season, as its homecoming. Its two cars were drenched in a bespoke livery that said “USA,” the merchandise tents were packed with fans trying to purchase Cadillac gear and the mood was festive as Americans finally have a team they can embrace.The trick now for Cadillac is persuading its new fan base to stick with the team as it makes a slow crawl through the F1 season. The results sheet aren’t all that impressive, but the finishing positions aren’t too important right now.Instead, Cadillac is focused on showing progress made from race to race, and even though Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas finished near the bottom of the running order Sunday, it was still a successful day.Perez was 16th and Bottas was 18th — last of the cars still running in a 22-driver field — but the key statistic was that both cars finished the race for the third consecutive grands prix. Both cars also completed all the laps in the Saturday’s sprint race.“I’m proud of the team this weekend. The pressure of racing for the first time on home soil, with our first significant upgrade package, has been huge, but the team and drivers have performed well,” said Dan Towriss, CEO of the team. “We’re showing some real flashes of progress, which just makes us hungry for more.”The team was just finding some momentum after the Japanese Grand Prix in March when F1 canceled a pair of races in the Middle East because of the …
