Approximately twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
