Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
