Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “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 circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now at over 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
