A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Australia and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
