Approximately one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately 100 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 never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
