Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad 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 center to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
