A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as F1's most recent participant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view 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,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
