A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track 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 conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
