Approximately twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on various components of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
