Just over a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Building the team from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, different from the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
