Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, 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 enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst 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 building the facility to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
