Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
