A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a amused expression when considering the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
