Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
