A little more than a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals 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 feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
