A little more than twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident 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 enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins 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 American Colton Herta
