Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, 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 don’t get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization 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 show up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
