Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager consults a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
