A little more than a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
