Just over twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the project in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
