Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the race track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
