Approximately twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as F1's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the race track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
