A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO echoed this he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
