Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race 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 first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. 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 flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
