Cadillac F1 Team Looks To NASA For Inspiration Ahead Of 2026 Debut

The Cadillac F1 Team is one of the most exciting projects that Formula 1 has seen in years, with a major US automaker in GM, joining the grid with plans to build their own power units in the years to come.

Still, starting an F1 team can be a risky proposition, and many others have tried and failed over the years, including fellow big-name automotive companies. That's especially true of teams that tried to set up a primary base of operations outside of the UK or Italy.

Cadillac will be based in Fishers, Indiana — IndyCar country — just outside of Indianapolis, with satellite operations in Silverstone, United Kingdom.

It sounds like Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon is acutely aware of this situation, and instead of harping on the failures of those who came before them, Lowdon has his group focused on overwhelming successes outside of F1.

Namely, NASA and the US space program.

The Cadillac F1 team principal explained why he looked to NASA for inspiration ahead of the team's debut season. (Getty Images)

Lowden told the Associated Press that he looked at large-scale projects that dealt with "immovable deadlines, huge amount of public scrutiny, multiple sites, (and are) highly technical." That's F1 in a nutshell, but outside of that, the Apollo missions fit that description.

"I looked a lot into how NASA had done the management structure of the business," Lowdon said. "I thought there were some very clever things that they did that we could build into a new design of a Formula 1 team, a complete new way of managing it. The primary objective was to maximize peer-to-peer communication between engineers."

I think this approach is going to do wonders for Cadillac in its debut. I'm bullish on them. 

For one, they're joining the grid in the first season of a pretty significant regulations overhaul. While the other teams are still trying to develop their 2025 cars to gain a place or two in the standings, Cadillac can focus on 2026.

Plus, regulation changes generally shake up the order, with some teams struggling to get a hold of them.

Cadillac will also debut with engines built by Ferrari, which is likely to build some solid power units that will be one of the top two alongside Mercedes.

Add in a solid driver lineup, and I think that's a recipe for a competitive midfield team.