Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
