Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a leader in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
