Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
