Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
