A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
