A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
