Approximately twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
