Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
