Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing 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 task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
