A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the chance to alter team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
