Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect 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 feat in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
