A little more than twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that passes focus are more focused on the looming decisive point in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the project in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
