Approximately twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the program in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner 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 significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
