Just over twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all working on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
