Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has entailed a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
