Just over twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
