Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over 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 advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
