Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from scratch has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing 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 rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
