A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, 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 possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the race track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
