Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
