Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, different from the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all working on distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
