A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
