Approximately 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 squad from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
