Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
