Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
