Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO 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 deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
