Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
