Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that passes focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
