A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be proven 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 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
