Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to reach the objective of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
