Approximately twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was established, 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 experience.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
