Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be held in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
