A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing 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 don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Australia and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume 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,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain 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 stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
