Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing 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 aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
