Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
