Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that passes thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
