Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing 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 well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
