A little more than a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all working on various components of the program across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
