Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
