Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Building the team from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
