A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
