Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
