IFS committed to Cadillac’s Formula 1 project more than a year before the American marque had even been approved to join the grid – a decision that has now seen the industrial AI firm become a multi-year partner of the sport’s newest team ahead of its debut season.
The enterprise software specialist first began working with Cadillac in early 2024, at a point when the project was still awaiting approval from Formula One Management and the FIA.
At that stage, the team was operating under a different identity and had yet to receive formal authorisation to compete, with its place on the grid still subject to a lengthy regulatory and commercial approval process.
Rather than waiting for that process to conclude, IFS opted to back the programme early, positioning itself as a long-term operational partner rather than a short-term commercial sponsor.
“Cadillac’s a customer of ours, and as a marketeer I always feel like there are options available. There are options to decide how you want to present your brand and put yourself out there,” IFS Chief Marketing Officer Oliver Pilgerstorfer told Sector.
“For me, one of the most compelling ways to do that is through an authentic story. So, the fact that we’ve got a team who, before we even started speaking about a marketing partnership, we’re already using our technology, was a good foundation.”
Cadillac was officially approved as Formula 1’s 11th team in November, clearing the way for its entry under the sport’s new regulations in 2026 and marking the first expansion of the grid in almost a decade.
The approval followed a prolonged evaluation process by both the FIA and FOM, with Cadillac required to demonstrate not only its technical and financial capability, but also the long-term value it would bring to the championship as a new manufacturer-backed entrant.
For IFS, the green light simply formalised a relationship that had already been in motion for more than a year.
I think that’s one of the advantages that Cadillac has as a team, is that you don’t have the baggage of an operation and processes that you have always followed.
Oliver Pilgerstorfer
Since then, the partnership has transitioned from early-stage operational support into a full commercial relationship, with IFS now embedded inside the team as its core enterprise software provider as Cadillac builds towards its first season.
The company’s platform underpins Cadillac’s financial systems, manufacturing planning and logistics operations – critical functions for a team building its infrastructure from scratch under F1’s cost cap environment.
In modern F1, where the difference between success and failure is often measured in tenths of a second and marginal gains, operational efficiency has become just as important as aerodynamic performance or power unit development.
IFS works closely with Cadillac’s finance department to support long-term decision-making, while also providing production scheduling and parts management systems as the team builds its first car and scales up its factory operation.
For a new entrant, building those systems from the ground up is one of the biggest challenges of all.
“Interestingly, with Formula One, there’s also the dynamic of the cost cap,” added Pilgerstorfer.
“To have that insight of where your money is being spent, how it’s being spent, and probably more importantly, to forward plan rather than just report is a really important thing.
“I think that’s one of the advantages that Cadillac has as a team, is that you don’t have the baggage of an operation and processes that you have always followed.”
That blank-sheet approach also mirrors the way IFS positions itself within major industrial organisations across sectors such as manufacturing, aerospace, construction, energy and defence – industries where operational efficiency, asset management and long-term planning are central to performance.
The partnership also aligns closely with IFS’s growth strategy in North America, where the company has been expanding rapidly in recent years.
Formula 1’s commercial momentum in the United States, driven by the growth of the Las Vegas, Miami and Austin races alongside Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, has transformed the championship into a major marketing platform for global technology brands.
Cadillac’s arrival as an American team gives IFS a high-profile presence within that ecosystem at a time when the sport’s US audience continues to grow.
While Formula 1’s global platform offers IFS significant brand exposure, the company views the partnership primarily as a commercial growth lever rather than a pure marketing exercise.
The Cadillac project also provides IFS with a high-profile case study for its industrial AI platform, showcasing how its technology can be deployed at speed inside one of the most demanding operational environments in world sport.
“I think the fact that Cadillac is an American team couples with our growth in North America being huge,” Pilgerstorfer said.
“Ultimately, what’s the ambition of IFS and that’s for our business to grow and we see this as a lever in order to help us grow.”
In an era where most F1 partnerships are signed after teams are already established on the grid, IFS’s decision to back Cadillac before it even had a licence stands out as a statement of long-term intent.
