Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Building the team from scratch has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of six hundred quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
