A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
