Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
