Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on various components of the program in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
