Just over twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, 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 experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the race track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ 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 manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
