Just over one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the impending critical moment in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
