Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 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 not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
