“Everyone is aware of it”

“Failure is not possible” is the hanging phrase of the film Apollo 13 by Ron Howard, released in 1995, in which Gene Kranz, NASA flight director, interpreted by Ed Harris, tries to save three astronauts in danger on an Apollo spacecraft which dysfunction. This mantra also permeates the offices of the emerging F1 team that is Cadillac, while it enters a crucial phase of its progression to the Grand Prix.

In the various teams of the team, including the European Silverstone base, Charlotte’s installations (a city in North Carolina) and the brand new headquarters of the company Mother Andretti Global in Indianapolis, the countdown continues to exhaust before the main team deadlines: the first start of its first F1, the first winter tests planned for the end of January 2026 in Australia.

However, for the director of the team, Graeme Lowdon, the question is not to know if his team will be ready for his big beginnings as the first new team since 2016. “It is not negotiable. We must do it”said Lowdon exclusively at Motorsport.com.

“One of the interesting things in the motor racing is the irremovable deadlines. No one will let us compete in the first Grand Prix a week later than the others. Everyone is aware that the clock is running. We have a calendar shared by everyone with a few key dates per month, whether it is design modifications or component tests. For the moment, we are in time.”

In order to meet these deadlines, the team continues to develop its European Silverstone base, Lowdon revealing that the team recruits staff at the rate of “More than one person a day”. A glance at Cadillac’s LinkedIn page suggests that many positions are still to be filled.

Cadillac’s technical management has been in place for some time, with the former engineer of Renault Nick Chester as technical director, the former member of Williams Jon Tomlinson as aerodynamic manager and John McQuilliam, who worked with Lowdon at Manor, as a chief designer. Cadillac can also count on the experience of Pat Symonds as an engineering consultant. The former team manager of the Haas team, Peter Crolla, is also one of the main recruitments.

“We have a weekly meeting with all the staff and I remember that during the very first meeting, there were three of us. Today, we are hundreds”said Lowdon. “I think there is a little more than one person a day who joins the team, very good people, with whom I have already worked in the competition in the past. It’s really very exciting for me to be able to find the race with some of them.”

Three installations, three cradles of sports sport

The Cadillac F1 project.

Photo of: FIA

In addition to its European Center in Silverstone, Cadillac will also have the brand new American headquarters in Andian Global in Indiana, as well as a General Motors installation in Charlotte, in North Carolina. She will also continue to use the Toyota blower in Cologne.

“We build factories in the United Kingdom and a huge headquarters in Indianapolis. I really can’t wait for people to see what it will look like, because I think that will change the game for F1 fans in the United States”said Lowdon.

“It is always a challenge to manage several sites, but we see it as an opportunity. We have a head office in Indianapolis; it is the cradle of Indycar. We have the new department of power units in Charlotte, where we also have a lot of activities related to the dynamics of vehicles and steering simulators; this is where the cradle of NASCAR is.”

“Then we have the activities in Silverstone, which is the cradle of formula 1. In terms of energy sport energy, no one has any doubt about the main objective when you are in one of these cities.”

Lowdon is not unrelated to the creation of an F1 team from zero, but the circumstances are very different from those in which he led Manor in the discipline in 2010 for what was a trying campaign of seven seasons in different forms until the team definitively closes its doors at the end of 2016. At that time, Lowdon and its co -founder John Booth were no longer involved in the project.

“This time we have more time”said Lowdon by comparing the two companies. “It seems to me that we had seven months the last time, and it was a challenge. I think about it today and it is simply incredible. As the story has shown, the milestones move in an uncontrollable way. This time, it is much more stable, but the part is also more complicated. The lesson that I learned the last time is that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

I have never doubted only once that we would win our entry ticket.

Cadillac in F1’s efforts changed bracket when she finally received authorization to join the grid as 11th team during the weekend of the Las Vegas Grand Prix last November. She could finally approach staff and potential partners knowing that she would be on the starting grid in 2026, instead of being satisfied with a promise.

“The dominant emotion was, to a certain extent, relief”said Lowdon. “I have never doubted only time we won our entry ticket, otherwise [cela aurait voulu dire] that there were enough elements to discourage us and keep us away from the project. The problem was to know how long it was going to take. “

“From a personal point of view, communicating this message to all the people who joined us and seeing their reactions was a really pleasing experience. I think we were more than 300 people at that time, almost the size of Haas. Each of them had committed to joining a team that did not yet have access to the discipline. We could not even qualify as a formula 1 team.”

Cadillac will use the Ferrari engines for the first two seasons before introducing its own hybrid engines from 2028. This is why Russ O’blenes de General Motors, manager of the manufacturer’s F1 engine program, attended Reunion on the engines held in Bahrain.

The deserved before nationality for pilots

GRAEME LOWDON with Valtteri Bottas.

Photo de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

One of the next crucial decisions for Cadillac concerns the choice of its pilots. Addressing Motorsport.com At the start of the year, the team advisor Mario Andretti said that the intention was still to have an American pilot in one of his cars, Andretti confirming that the Indycar structure pilot, Colton Herta, was still a leading candidate while waiting for a great FIA license.

Herta has since distanced himself from the rumors that have surrounded him since the project was launched, even if he remains in the running. Among the other free pilots on the market, let us quote Valtteri Bottas, reservist of Mercedes, and Sergio Pérez, former pilot of Red Bull, who both have more than a decade of experience in F1 and who could be precious for a new team.

Lowdon remained reserved when asked if the team was still determined to recruit an American pilot from the start, suggesting that this would not necessarily happen in the first year. “We will select merit pilots. Having a merit pilot does not mean that you cannot have an American passport as well. We are spoiled for choice”he said.

“But moreover, we cannot judge an F1 team on what it does this year or next year. The team is there to stay. I think fans would like to see an American pilot in an American team. Nothing opposes it, but we have to move forward, select merit and build a team, because there are a few very experienced pilots available.”

“We could not participate in the last cycle of negotiations on the pilots, which means that we are not in tune with many other stables. But there are also advantages to this. There are many very good pilots available at the moment. When we have formed the pilot duo, whatever it is, it will be a solid duo.”