Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has entailed a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
