Just over a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign 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 first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect 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 accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the goal of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
