Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
