Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as F1's most recent participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
