A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
