Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
