Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
