APEX RACEWIRE Newsroom
Inside Cadillac's nine-month push to build an F1 race team from zero
Race team manager Peter Crolla explains how Cadillac recruited staff and created its trackside operation ahead of its 2026 debut.
By Michael de Vries - 2026-08-18T16:30:03.000Z - 2 min read
Cadillac race team manager Peter Crolla has outlined the intensive nine-month push required to build the American squad’s traveling trackside crew from the ground up ahead of its Formula 1 debut. Having spent nearly a decade helping Haas establish itself on the grid from 2016, Crolla was recruited during early discussions with former team principal Graeme Lowdon to take charge of the sport's newest operational unit.
While Cadillac already had a factory base running in Silverstone when Crolla arrived in April, the race team that would travel to grands prix did not exist. Alongside newly appointed logistics manager Pete Simmons and chief mechanic Nathan Divey, Crolla had to acquire essential garage hardware, establish car assembly routines, and devise pit stop procedures before the opening round in Melbourne.
Assembling the workforce required navigating standard paddock employment terms. Notice periods across competing teams typically ranged from three to six months, forcing an aggressive recruitment strategy. Most personnel joined during the second half of 2025, stepping straight into high-pressure preparation as pallets of equipment arrived daily at the British facility.
According to Crolla, staff joining from established outfits understood that a startup would not offer the turnkey stability of teams like Ferrari or Mercedes. Instead, the appeal lay in having the autonomy to shape operating practices without bureaucratic constraints, even if it demanded long shifts and heavy personal commitments throughout the winter build.
Cadillac structured its rookie campaign around three core pillars: achieving respectable participation, building reliability, and developing performance. The squad met each initial manufacturing deadline, including a maiden shakedown in freezing conditions at Silverstone in January, before successfully seeing one car reach the finish in Australia.
The initial milestone has since given way to the harder realities of competing against seasoned rivals. Reliability faults and operational difficulties have emerged over recent weekends, with an arduous Austrian Grand Prix standing out as a low point as Aston Martin moved ahead in the rearward battle.
With former Renault executive Marcin Budkowski now installed as team principal, the squad is already preparing for its next phase of expansion. Beyond ongoing developments at Silverstone, Cadillac is scheduled to bring a new American base in Indiana on stream next year to support its long-term ambitions on the grid.