A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
