A little more than twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has required a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
