A little more than a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the race track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
