Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
