Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as F1's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
