Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
