A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing 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 established team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
