Incoming Cadillac F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon is no stranger to the ups and downs of Formula 1, and after the slow demise of his previous Manor team, you could forgive him for stepping away from management.

And yet all it took was a metaphor about a good cake to convince Lowdon that joining forces with Cadillac and General Motors was a worthwhile investment.

The “good cake” metaphor guiding Graeme Lowdon at Cadillac F1

In the build-up to the Miami Grand Prix, PlanetF1.com had an exclusive opportunity to speak with Cadillac F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon, and we had one key question on our minds: What made this team such a compelling proposition?

And for Lowdon, it was simple.

“Well, it’s like a good cake,” he explained.

“Look at the ingredients; if this doesn’t turn out well, there’s something seriously wrong with the chef, because the ingredients are so appealing.”

Lowdon is no stranger to the fickle nature of Formula 1. In 2010, he used his connections in the business and motorsport industries to propel junior category team Manor Racing into the big leagues of F1.

Through its various iterations at Virgin Racing, Marussia F1, and Manor Marussia, the outfit never quite found its footing. Mounting financial pressures paired with the loss of star driver Jules Bianchi at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix ultimately saw Lowdon and fellow team boss John Booth departing the outfit at the end of the 2015 season.

Booth and Lowdon instead turned the outfit into a World Endurance Championship team, albeit without the institutional backing that could have helped it thrive.

But with Cadillac, things are much different.

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“So, if we look at the ownership side, TWG — I think people are only starting to learn about the breadth of motor sport that they have in the portfolio, and for me, that’s super cool,” Lowdon explained of the company run by American entrepreneur Dan Towriss.

“You’ve got NASCAR, you’ve got IndyCar, Indy NXT, Supercars, Formula E.

“To have the ambition to do that, immediately, for anyone like me, you think, ‘Okay this is interesting.’”

TWG Motorsports may be facilitating the team’s entry into Formula 1, and it may be deeply serious about its cross-discipline racing endeavors — but it wasn’t the only factor that had Lowdon interested. He also pointed to the involvement of General Motors via its sub-brand, Cadillac.

“What I really like about GM, in terms of racing — I love the fact that when they commit to something, they really commit,” he explained.

“I’ve been going to Le Mans for years and years and years, and I can’t remember a time there wasn’t a GM product racing there, whether it’s a Corvette or something in LMP1, or LMDh.

“The ingredients are cool, and Formula 1 is a formula that I know well and I love.

“And then also, I’ll never, ever forget the first conversation I had with Mario Andretti as well. The guy is a legend, and within two minutes, you can see why he was a world champion.

“And so, somebody presents all that to you, you don’t cross the road, you grab it.”

Read next: Four reasons why GM’s huge F1 arrival makes so much sense