Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit 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 never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
