A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as F1's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
