A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, 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 conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
