A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the team from nothing has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. 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 can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on various components of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
