Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time 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 conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
