Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating 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 opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the project in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
