A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the project in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
