Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit 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 challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor talks to a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
