Just over a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
