Approximately twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this 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,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the mission across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
