Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
