Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated 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 aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the project in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
