Approximately a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
