Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect 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 this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked 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. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
