A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a wry smile when considering the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
