A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
