Just over twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating 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 rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
