Just over a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
