Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the race track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, 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 conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
