A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team 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 observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
