A little more than twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the program in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
