Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
