Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent 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 center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
