Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe 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 enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 quickly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
