Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, 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 never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, 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 program across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
