Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
