Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
