Cadillac to run F1 2026 operation from Silverstone while US base under construction

The Cadillac Formula 1 outfit will run its 2026 car from Silverstone while it still finalises the construction of its American base, revealed team boss Graeme Lowdon.

Cadillac will make its F1 debut next year as an 11th constructor at the Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March with a driver pairing of grand prix veterans Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

It will operate under an American licence with team bases on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, including a factory in Silverstone and a purpose-built headquarters in Fishers, Indianapolis.

But with the Indianapolis base not yet ready, Lowdon revealed the General Motors brand will mainly run its 2026 operation out of the UK facility which was unveiled to the media in June. 

He told the Beyond the Grid podcast: “That [Fishers] is a nearly half million square foot development, brand new build just for Formula 1.

“It's going to have a whole bunch of things surrounding it as well, which I think will be very interesting for the fans.

“That's headquarters and the bulk of the car will be manufactured there over time. But again, you can't build a factory, we got an entry in March of this year, you can't build a factory, hire all the people, put all the machines in, and then manufacture components to Formula 1 standard, which is like aerospace standard, and be on the grid in Melbourne with that car.

Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac F1 team principal

Photo by: Cadillac Communications

“It just won't work. So we have a facility at Silverstone, which is a logistics facility. It's also where we have the aero design and mechanical design.

“The ‘26 car will be coordinated from there while Fishers is being completed. But over time, the main HQ will be in the US. Silverstone is not just an offshoot, it's a significant part of the team.”

Cadillac also has exclusive use of Toyota’s wind tunnel in Germany, plus a power unit base in North Carolina as it gears up to race with in-house engines from the 2029 campaign.

Until then it will be a Ferrari customer outfit but nonetheless, the organisation has been on an aggressive hiring spree of “over 120” members of staff after the 2025 summer shutdown.

This use of several different facilities across two continents is a unique approach for an F1 outfit and Cadillac has drawn inspiration from NASA to work efficiently as such a big team. 

“We learned a lot there about managing big groups, technically orientated, where peer to peer communication, engineer to engineer, aero specialist to aero specialist, all that where that communication is maximised across different geographical boundaries,” added Lowdon.

“And so we designed the structure of the team along those lines. So it operates as all one team. It just happens. Some teams have rooms and corridors, our corridors are just very, very long and stretch across the Atlantic. But the team operates as a single entity.”