Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne 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 not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this agile approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
