Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
