Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne 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 sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
