Graham Loughton: Everyone understands what our mission is.

      Cadillac F1, a new Formula 1 team, is preparing for its debut in the World Championship scheduled for 2026. Construction of the team's main base is still ongoing in Indiana, while an auxiliary facility has already been established at Silverstone in the UK. It is mainly located in leased premises within Silverstone's industrial park. Team principal Graham Lowdon invited the press there for the first time and shared details about Cadillac F1's work at this stage of the project.

      "Building the team starts with recruiting people," he quoted from Racer magazine. "So I made a list of key specialists to be hired very quickly. You could say that’s how it all began... But when you hire these people, you have to constantly maintain a kind of balance, ensuring they have everything they need. There’s no point in hiring 400 people if you don't have an IT department to manage them. And there's no sense in hiring them if you lack sufficient space.

      Now we need even more facilities because the buildings we acquired will turn into a construction site for 12 months. Overall, it’s about balancing, but it all starts with people—first and foremost, we need to find good specialists..."

      The new team currently has around four hundred staff members. About 10,000 parts for the future cars are already prepared, including the first chassis, which successfully passed FIA crash tests. Orders have been placed for another 6,000 parts, contracts signed with dozens of suppliers, and the CFD department is already operational.

      Of course, there are various challenges, including those related to team specialists being based both in the UK and the US. Moreover, in America, different departments are located in different states—Indiana and Michigan.

      "As for the task ahead of us, the deadlines for everything to be ready cannot be moved," Lowdon continued. "Therefore, establishing cooperation and communication between engineers is absolutely essential... When different departments are located in various places, it complicates everything..."

      "But everyone understands our mission. They know what needs to be done. We have created a very simple and flat organizational structure by dividing the enterprise into 12 departments. They all exchange information with each other, and the geographic location factor does not matter. It doesn't matter where a particular specialist is located. So far, everything is working. How well it works will be clear when it becomes evident whether our car is fast."

      Of course, everyone is eager to know soon what the factory team of General Motors will look like, but Lowdon only repeated that this question is not currently a priority.

      "Nothing has been decided yet," he stated. "We know who's available in the market and understand well what we need. But we haven’t reached that stage yet. For the first year of competition, it will be very helpful for the new team to include experienced people."

      He added that discussions on this topic are ongoing but remain confidential. The main task now is to establish the right foundation before opening negotiations with drivers.