Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
