Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Building the team from scratch has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
