A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
