Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
