Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and has a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
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 range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the project in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
