Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to reach the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
