Approximately twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as F1's newest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, 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 non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
