Just over one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that manager communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
