Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
