A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
