Just over one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
