A little more than twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the project across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
