Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “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 feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
