A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely 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 these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
