Approximately one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
