Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
