Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
