Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view given this organization, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
