Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as F1's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
