Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
