Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
