Just over one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now up to over 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the program at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a manager in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
