Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
