A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
