A little more than one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on various components of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
