Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
