A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
