Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as F1's newest entry for 2026. Building the team from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia 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 aware there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
