Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
