A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted 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 top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
