Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The success of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
