Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on various components of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
