Just over twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the program at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
