A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a manager in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
