A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
