A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed 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 since then and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that manager communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
