A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
