A little more than a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
