A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said the team principal just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
