A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit 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 aware there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So 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 are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
