A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
