A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne 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 cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
