A little more than a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes minds are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, 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 working on various components of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
