A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the project at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
