Just over a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
