Just over a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately 100 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 sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
