Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as F1's latest participant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
