Just over twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for 2026. Building the team from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
