Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
