Just over one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
