A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
