Just over one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
