Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the objective of six hundred quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
