Approximately twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as F1's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit 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 sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on distinct elements of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
