A little more than twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and gets a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of building an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
