Just over a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, 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 Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days 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 sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated the team principal just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
