A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
