F1 has a habit of bringing familiar faces back into the spotlight when fans least expect it, and sometimes they also return in roles that feel bigger than before.
After a year away from the F1 pit wall, Charles Leclerc’s former race engineer, Xavier Marcos Padros, is officially back in the sport. The Spaniard has joined the Cadillac F1 project ahead of its 2026 debut, taking on the role of chief race engineer, and has sparked plenty of reaction online.
It is a statement that Cadillac is serious about surrounding itself with experienced people as it prepares to become F1’s 11th team.
A Complicated Ferrari Chapter With Charles Leclerc
Marcos Padros built a solid reputation long before his Ferrari days, as he worked at HRT and later Williams, where he served as Felipe Massa’s performance engineer, and that experience opened the door back into F1 with Ferrari in 2018.
In 2019, Marcos Padros was assigned as Leclerc’s race engineer, and at the time, the Monegasque was Ferrari’s rising star, and the partnership delivered results quickly as together, they celebrated five grand prix victories and several standout performances that confirmed Leclerc as a future title contender.
However, Ferrari’s problems on the pit wall never went away as strategic confusion became a common theme, and Marcos Padros often found himself at the center of radio exchanges that frustrated fans. The 2022 Monaco Grand Prix is still infamous due to the Scuderia’s unclear calls, constant plan changes, and Leclerc watching a golden opportunity slip away at his home race.
Those moments influenced the public’s opinion, as Ferrari was already facing criticism for operational errors, and the race engineer became part of that wider narrative. In 2024, following the Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari moved Marcos Padros to other programs within the team, while Bryan Bozzi took over as Leclerc’s race engineer from Imola onwards.
The change brought immediate success as Leclerc won in Monaco just two races later and added victories at Monza and Austin that season.
Cadillac Believes in Xavier Marcos Padros
After stepping away from Ferrari’s F1 operations, Marcos Padros did not step away from racing and joined Cadillac as technical director of its LMDh endurance racing program in early 2025.
Cadillac has now confirmed Marcos Padros as chief race engineer for its F1 team and has already been involved in early preparation work, including Cadillac’s first real-world F1 test at Imola using a 2023 Ferrari car. That session marked an important milestone as the team moved from simulation to on-track learning.
Cadillac’s overall approach has been measured, as the team will enter F1 in 2026 with Ferrari power units and a driver lineup featuring Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. Former Aston Martin engineer Carlo Pasetti will work with Perez, while ex-Alpine race engineer John Howard will guide Bottas.
F1 fans have reacted in a predictable fashion, as some joked that leaving Ferrari might unlock Marcos Padros’ full potential. Others took playful jabs at Ferrari, comparing it to football clubs such as Manchester United that develop strong talent only to watch them thrive elsewhere.
These jokes reflect the long-standing frustration with Ferrari’s decision-making rather than a verdict on one engineer.
For Marcos Padros, this is a fresh start in a very different environment, as Cadillac is not carrying decades of expectation or internal politics and is instead building everything from scratch. His Ferrari chapter will always be part of his story, but this sport is full of second chances, and Cadillac is betting that the lessons learned at Ferrari will now work in their favor.
