Approximately 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 entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, 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 flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
