Approximately one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
