Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months 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 monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, 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 remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
