A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So 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. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on various components of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
