Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as F1's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta