Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline 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 maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
